Valvrave: The Founding of An Empire
by AJ-Writer
Summary: From the writer of Samurai Seed and of Demons and Gods who were so pissed by the ending of the anime. HarutoXSaki, L-ElfXShokoXLiselotte? Started from the alternate ep 7 of the anime.
1. Do you wish to resign your humanity?

From the creator of Samurai Seed and Of Demons and Gods who was sooo angry as to why the anime ending was so fucked up, came his take on the Valvrave:

Valvrave: The Founding of an Empire

**000000000000000**

**AN: This story starts on Episode 7 of the anime… but with a different twist…**

**000000000000000**

Prologue:

Imperial Calendar, year 214…

Somewhere in space, with a planet overlooking an asteroid field…

A green and golden mech was flying across the asteroid field. A pair of glowing green wheels embedded on its shoulders. The mecha is humanoid in shape, but other than the normal pair of legs, mounted on its back skirt are a whole set of three pairs of extra legs, set about like a back skirt. Said legs are kicking multiple times, generating green halos that propelled the mecha left and right, dodging and dancing across the space rocks. Another point is that the humanoid mecha's head is crowned by a green glowing headcrest that also covered its optics. Following behind the gold and green Mecha is a pair of black raven like UAV Drones, flying closely behind the green mecha.

The mech flew elegantly, avoiding all obstacles… until suddenly, another mech burst out of the rock. Unlike the elegantly shaped green mecha, this one was of more robust and rigid construct, with its many cannons and weaponry protruding out. The mech was shaped like a bull's head. Complete with a horn that host a pair of energy cannons, and a pair of eyes that pulsed momentarily before it opened fire at the first green and gold mech.

The Green and Gold mech realized the attack a bit late, but one of its accompanying Drones moved in and took the shot. The destruction of one of its drones alerted the green and gold mech, and its pilot, a woman wearing an armored skin tight pilot suit of regal design with a matching green and gold color scheme. The pilot looked at the bull shaped opponent, and then she looked at the console depicting the status and identity of her mech.

Valvrave Unit IV: Carmilla Mk. 5. Next to the name of her unit, is a gauge with number 97 switching to 98 every so often, with the limit being 100. "Sigh… I guess this is my limit, eh?" The woman's voice was gentle and calm, heavily laden with experience. The Valvrave then extended its hand and the raven like drone landed on her arm, turning into a gauntlet. As soon as it did, the many exhaust vents of the Valvrave, which initially glowing orange hot cooled off almost immediately, and the gauge in the unit's console decelerated rapidly to the range of 30-45. As soon as the deed was done, the raven ejected a piece of its overheating tail.

The pilot of the bull-like mecha, a highly decorated and bearded man with a scar on his face growled in his cockpit. "Hah. Your weapon is just a relic of a bygone age, but you can withstand against the might of our glorious army for 7 justavs. As expected of one of the Golden Seven. BUT!" The bull like mecha suddenly transformed into a more humanoid form, and all its weapon loadout were brought to bear. Soon, the mecha opened fire with everything its got, raining Carmilla with shot after shot.

And yet the green Valvrave easily dodged the rain of shots. The enemy was relentless and fired even more fiercely. At one point, it looks as if the Green Valvrave had nowhere to run as the energy projectiles are coming from everywhere…until suddenly, the Valvrave suddenly split into seven identical units. Using its raven claw, the 7 Carmillas ganged up on the caught off guard opponent and ripped it apart, leaving it limbless and heavily damaged.

The pilot gasped in shock. "Actual physical afterimage? What kind of technology is that!?"

Said pilot barely recovered from his shock, Carmilla unleashed her finishing move, which is pulling out one of the green wheel like weapon on her shoulder and throw it straight at the now helpless enemy. The wheel's edge were glowing with green and gold hard-light, creating an energy buzzsaw that ripped the mech in two before it exploded full force as the wheel returned back to its owner.

The female pilot of the Green Valvrave sighed. But then, her sensor picked up another unit. "Oh my… this one must be a scout…"

She turned and behold, there's a whole army of such mech in their dozens, backed up by several huge battle ships appearing out of the warp jump. "This is it guys! Today we will bring down Carmilla of the Golden Seven!" All other enemy pilots cried their cheers.

Even when faced with such impossible odds, the girl can still find it in her to let out a chuckle. "tee-hee… oh my… this is bad… this is really bad…"

Suddenly, her sensor registered a massive energy spike appearing right behind her. "Oh?" her initial shock turned to a happy smile, recognizing this particular energy signature.

The enemy fleet suddenly halted. Apparently they registered that energy spike as well. "This… could this be… Oh no… It's HIM!"

All the sudden, a golden energy wave burst out from dark space and engulfed the entire opposing fleet, completely avoiding the Carmilla. In an instant, the large fleet was reduced to but a few heavily damaged and barely functioning mechs. Some of them gaped in shock as they struggled to take control of their mech, one of them even deigned to try to take a shot Carmilla, until suddenly another mecha appeared out of warp jump. This mech is heavy, large, with glowing silver coloring. Its design somewhat matched the Valvrave but more robust, and heavily armored. Another point of interest is that while Valvrave has a humanoid design, this one seem to evoke a wolf, with a pair of oversized arms, its fingers are armed with claws, and smaller legs.

"Is that… who I think it is?" One of the surviving pilots gasped.

"Who else?" The other responded. "There's only one being who can master those monsters… Only one can bend one of the Silver Nine to his will. Only he… only that One Demon Emperor."

Upon seeing the Wolf-like mech, the female pilot finally relaxed well enough to remove her helmet, revealing a beautiful black haired woman, no older than 17 years old, and yet her eyes gave out an ancient radiance. Hers is not youth… but agelessness.

"**Saki? Are you okay?"** The coms on her console lit up.

"tee-hee! Thanksies for the rescue!" The girl smiled sweetly at the person on her com. 

"**Inuzuka's gonna rail you again. Those warp-jump engines are expensive, you know?"**

"Boo… not my fault that these guys blew that one up first thing in the morning!" The girl pouted.

"**Sigh…"** Kilometers away from the green valvrave, a black silhouette of another Valvrave stands in the darkness. The shape depicted the mech to be at least one and half times bigger than the Carmilla, with a more elaborate glowing golden colored head crest crowning its head, and golden runes engraved on the mechs entire being, glowing in the darkness. The said unit was also encircled by another pair of the Wolf-like mechs, escorting the unit like loyal hounds. A red glowing katana can be seen extending out of the darkness. The source of that blast. **"Lucky for you my Warp Jump engine is perfectly functional. Rendezvous with me, time to go home." **

"Ro~oger." Saki replied sing-songly as she piloted the Carmilla towards the said dark shrouded Valvrave.

"**Why did you go so far from the perimeter anyway?"**

"Well because…" Saki smiled as she pulled out a locket from her suit. She opened the locket and gazed lovingly at the picture inside. "Even after 200 years… a promise is a promise… right?"

**Chapter 1:**

**Do you wish to resign as a human being? Yes or No?**

200 years earlier…

Tokishima Haruto couldn't remember how things can go from bad to worse in so short of a time. It all started on what supposed to be a memorably normal day: that was the day he was about to confess to his childhood friend and the love of his life, Shashinami Shouko. And then, just before he said the word, Dorssian Empire, a super power nation attacked Module 77, the Dyson Sphere that has become the home of roughly several hundred students of the Sakimori High School. What exactly a super power nation would want with a Colony that only holds several thousand populace, Haruto didn't know… until, he get his hands on a Valvrave.

Do you wish to resign as a human being? Yes or No?

In normal circumstances, most people would say no.

But when he watched Shouko seemingly get vaporized right in front of him, his thought process was anything but normal. He unthinkingly answered yes. He activated the super mech, beat down the invasion nearly single handedly. When everything was said and done, he found, to his joy, that his childhood friend is, quite in fact, alive and kicking.

All is well.

"_You Monster!"_

Or not. Suddenly, the day ended with him no longer can be counted as a human race. He became… something more. More than just a human. And when she asked him to continue what she thought she knew he'll say… Haruto realized… there's no way she can ever know what he had become. And she doesn't deserve him: an inhuman monster. And so he lied, and he pushed her away. And things seemingly go back to the way it once was. He and Shouko are just… a close childhood friend. And though he's no longer human, that doesn't change the fact that he still loves her, and will do anything to support her decision. Such as when she decided to form an independent nation, he supported her all the way.

And to think that he thought the worst problem that can happen was when their environmental maintenance support system broke and everyone nearly died of hypothermia.

But no. Misery loves company. As if it wasn't enough that there's one machine that turned you into a body swapping monster, he found that there are another four of these things right beneath the school.

And the bigger mess started with a kiss from a certain black haired girl by the name of Rukino Saki.

"_Rukino-san! DON'T! THAT THING IS CURSED!'_

Do you wish to resign as a human being? Yes or No?

"_It's okay, isn't it? I hate humans anyway! With this I'll become something special! So it's all okay!"_

Yes.

At the start of that day, there's only one body swapping monster. Now there are two.

And this one has a problem when it comes to keeping things under wrap.

Rather… she thought it's her one way ticket to worldwide fame.

Finally, after the duet take down the latest Dorssian attack…

In the Module 77 hangar, Haruto and Saki stand before the whole set of Valvraves, his and Saki's included, along with the other three. Together with them are Inuzuka Kyuuma, Haruto's best friend, Nanami-sensei, their klutz of a teacher, Shashinami Shoko, Marie Nobi, Aina, Satomi Renbokuji the student council president and his vice president.

"Whoa… I didn't know there are more of them."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys." Haruto bowed his head down.

"Y-You don't have to apologize." Aina stuttered.

"Yep! You should be proud, Haruto!" Shouko supported.

"At any rate, this is some cache of weapons." Renbokoji suddenly began commenting. "Alright then. The Student Council will take command of these Machines."

"NO!" Suddenly Haruto roared. "No you can't!"

"Why can't I?"

Why can't he? Haruto has more than enough reason. Problem is… he can't say it. If he did… he'll have to tell them all… tell Shouko what he had become. "Just… don't." and he can't do that.

"You're not entitled to them in any way!" Renbokoji insisted smugly. "Vice President, please assign these valvrave units as property of the student council."

"STOP IT!" Haruto screeched. "I won't let you touch any of these Valvraves!"

"I'm the president of the student council! Elected democratically by the entire students! I represent all the students here!"

And still Haruto remained adamant. Shouko looked at this Haruto, looked at his eyes… and she understood. That meek half hearted Haruto who dislike competition and prefer compromise had found something he cannot compromise. Something he will not give up upon. "That look… I've seen it before." Shouko chuckled. "President, give it up. When he's like that, he won't budge no matter what."

Saki glanced at Shouko. "You… know him well… don't you?"

"Well… he did the same thing the last time we tried to run away!"

"No I didn't!" Haruto protested.

"Yes you did!"

"No I don't!"

"You did!"

"Don't!"

"DID!"

"Uh-hum!" Renbokuji cleared his throat to cut this childish banter short. "Guys…?"

Haruto and Shouko awkwardly turned to Renbokuji and the matter at hand. Shouko spoke up on Haruto's behalf. "Haruto pilots one of these machines. If anything else, he knew these robots best. I believe that it is in the best interest that we entrust their care to Haruto."

"Out of the question!"

"I agree with her." Saki suddenly raised her hand.

"Likewise." Marie, in her usual laidback and bored tone replied.

"M-Me too!" Aina stuttered again.

"Sorry, Satomi." Inuzuka Kyuuma also raised his hand in support of that decision.

And then Nanami-sensei also timidly raised her hand in support, much to Satomi's shock.

"Outvoted." Marie murmured in triumph.

"Welcome to democracy." Kyuuma grinned.

"Can the jokes!" Satomi is still unwilling to give up. "If that's how it's going to be, then we should ask every student's opinion!"

"Hold your horses right there kids!" A man wearing a white scientist coat came floating towards them. Everyone recognized him as their Physics Professor, Dr. Kibukawa. "Gotta take a look at them first! Nobody else gets in or claim anything until the checkup is done!"

"B… But!" Satomi tried to protest again. But the Professor was clear on the matter.

"A teacher's job is to ensure the safety of the students, right?"

At that point, Satomi finally realized he's licked… again. Grunting, he just jumped away from the crowd, followed by his fretting Vice President.

Haruto looked at the departing President in relief. Then he also looked at the one woman who understands him best… the one woman whom he can always rely on. A fact which he will always be eternally grateful. "Shouko." The girl in question turned to Haruto to see him smile lovingly at her. "Thank you."

Shouko warmly returned the smile. "You're welcome."

All this does not escape Rukino Saki's attention. And she'll be lying if she said she wasn't the least bit jealous.

**000000000000000**

L-elf asked himself… What happened that it came to this?

He started by infiltrating a Jior Secret Facility for weapons development.

And what a weapon.

It was a weapon so powerful, its technology is light-years beyond anything science had ever accomplished… He would even dare to say it has gone beyond the realm of science. It's already bordering on magic and mysticism. Two things that he never truly believed in. But he knows what he saw, and it's enough to make him a believer. Or at least… partially a believer.

And if things can't get any better, it was in the hands of a witless civilian who had no idea on how best use this great machine. Easily silenced, he assumed, as he gutted him and then unloaded a few clips to destroy all his vital organs.

His first mistake.

He should've known it won't be that simple.

He doesn't remember anything after that, only the sheer pain when the supposedly dead civilian rise up from the dead and BITE him on the neck. And then after that, he had a huge hole on his head.

When he woke up again, he's inside the cockpit of the very machine he tried to take, poorly tied… and one complication: he's now charged for treason, the gravest of capital crime, punishable by death. Proof: he opened fire on his fellow officers, claiming one eye from A-Drei, his supposedly best friend. And the only proof of his innocence is that he doesn't remember doing any of the aforementioned actions. And when everything was said and done, he was put on chains and given to the Arusian army.

Given the fact he once slaughtered 5,000 of their men single handedly; his reputation did the rest of the job of making his situation worse and worse.

But that's hardly the issue. He is L-Elf, the one man army. There's no angle he cannot foresee, no murky situation he cannot get out of.

And then he assessed the situation calmly. Now, skipping the whole body jacking thing and the fact he had to butcher the entire room and every Arus soldier sent his way, he surmises two things: One: He's on his own. Two: he's gonna need the help of that civilian… that Haruto Tokishima, the only person, he found out, that can use that Valvrave.

Well, this should be pretty easy. The whole school is now under Arus occupation. It shouldn't be hard to convince the boy, and then the whole school, to be on his side. He just had to give Senator Figaro the right push. And like a well played puppet, the fool of a senator dug his own grave when he opened fire at the students, turning them all against him. L-Elf just couldn't see how his plan will fail when Haruto Tokishima took control of his Valvrave and stand before them all, defying the Senator, and by extension, Arus. At this point, only by joining with Dorssia… no… by joining with him can Haruto Tokishima hope to survive.

His second mistake.

He focused too much on Haruto Tokishima. He ignored another irregular point:

A girl by the name of Shashinami Shoko!

"WE SHOULD DECLARE OUR OWN INDEPENDENCE!"

And to his disbelief, with that one statement, all his plans go up in smoke all around him. For the first time ever, he was outmaneuvered. Not by genius or superior foresight… but by sheer unpredictability and dumb luck of a single overly gutsy girl. Enough ridiculousness to make him nearly laughed his brains out.

And then, after a little this and that, he reassess the situation and realized: he knew too little of this module and its occupants to try to do anything risky. So he decided to bide his time and explore this module inside out. He found several interesting facts: This Module host multiple Valvraves, and various kinds of facility and equipment needed to support them… and it seems every student here has been… altered with. At least, that's what he hypothesized when he saw Rukino Saki, a girl beneath his notice, successfully bonded with a Valvrave when an Arus Pilot failed to do so.

With that said… L-Elf suddenly realized he had everything… everything he needed to complete that which he wishes to do. Forget Dorssia, forget revolution… the accomplishment of that which he sets out to do is within his grasp. Right here. Now he needed a new plan. The first thing he needs to do is to split up two irregular points that had brought him into this mess: Tokishima Haruto and Shashinami Shoko. Together, they are unpredictable. But separate, they are less of a threat.

Now… that last attack that Valvrave Unit 1 and 4 repelled… It was led by X-Ein… but If Colonel Cain is in charge of that attack; that would be too straight forward.

At any rate… he need to take care of things here… and quickly.

That's what L-Elf surmised as he finished setting up his preparation… and then he looked at the camera that has been watching over him for the last few minutes. "Hmm…"

On the other side of the camera, a red haired girl gasped.

Minutes later…

Renbokuji Akira moaned and grumbled as L-Elf had just finished tying and gagging her. L-Elf looked at the equipment that red haired girl used… and he must say he was impressed. She had a good surveillance of the entire complex… nothing escape her attention…

Suddenly, a new idea brewed up in his head.

An idea that will tear Haruto Tokishima from Shashinami Shouko, bringing him to his side… for sure.

**000000000000000**

If anyone dared to ask, then Rukino Saki would dare to say, she had tasted it all.

From the lowliest side of humanity, rising all the way up to the top of stardom… and now, to the normality of day to day school life… and finally, abnormality of an inhuman. What it's like to be a girl, and what it's like to be a man. She had tasted it all. All… except one.

Unconditional Pure kindness.

This much she knew: the world isn't kind. The world is not a happy place where everything will always fall in place. She had to fight, trade and struggle to get a disproportionately small amount of happiness. Even worse, whenever she had amassed that happiness, there are always those who will try to deceive her to snatch it away. Her world used to be a world where she had always had been on edge. She had to fight, and bleed to get her happiness… but not cry. No. Never cried. She never did. Do so, and she will be crushed without mercy.

When her career was suddenly brought to a halt, she thought that… this is it. This is the end, and she lost the fight. She was brought down from stardom to normality. She was brought into a school, where she met people who had lived in a world completely different with her. Not one of them, she felt, know what she had gone through. She became a stranger living in a stranger world. Well, at least it was a step up from her past life… but… seriously? Who likes being brought down? She thought that there's no way she can stand this. No way she can get through this… but…

"Because a friend of mine is crying right in front of me. So of course I want to help!"

When was it?

Tokishima Haruto. The first person who offered her kindness and hope… without asking anything in return. There's no condition, no strings attached, pure selfless kindness without even a hint of ulterior motive.

When was it?

When did she ever receive that from anyone? And before long, she became fascinated with that brightness. That glowing naivety and cheer which he spread to everyone without asking for a reprieve that it left a mark in her heart.

When was it?

And suddenly, her mind had even adopted this mindset: maybe mediocrity and normality isn't so bad… if there's a person like this in her life.

When was it? When did Rukino Saki became so… fascinated with this… Tokishima Haruto? Fascinated enough that she even considers abandoning everything if it meant for him?

And for a moment, she let down her well guarded solitude… but then…

"Shoko! There's something I want to tell you!"

Curse the remnants of her naivety. She should've known it was too good to be true. Shashinami Shoko. Haruto's childhood friend and the one person he obviously would want to spend the rest of his life with. There's just no way she can compete with that, now… can't she?

And then it all changes when Haruto suddenly became the center of attention in one night. And even more so, he transcends humanity and became something… not human. Something that distanced him from everyone else, even from his childhood friend.

And Saki knew a chance when she saw one. Haruto became something akin to her. Something that was distant from normality. He's not mediocre anymore. One hiccup: he took it a step further by being no longer human.

Fine. She'll stop being one herself.

Do you wish to resign as a human being? Yes or No?

"_I want to become famous!"_

Her only dilemma when she pressed yes on the Valvrave IV console was deciding was it fame she wanted… or something… **someone** else?

But she pressed it anyway. And now she's done it. The world now knows her, looks at her. She's the invincible super human that is beyond humanity… She could get everything back… everything she could ever wanted for the asking…

Or did she?

Before Tokishima Haruto, this is everything she could've asked. Before him, she would've been content to what she had achieved.

Is it wrong of her to ask for more… just… one more?

Well… like she always said, happiness is something you had to fight and bleed for. And she didn't get this far by giving up.

"Yosh! Gimme the salt!"

"Hai…"

"Thank you!"

"Uah… that looks…" Saki gulped upon seeing this eerie looking purple colored broth on a pot that looked like some bio engineered slime if not for the many ingredients jutting out of it. "…like it'll come alive and bite someone!"

But that is for later. For now… she had to tackle another form of normality: a cooking class. And as it stands, it looks more like… Shoko just put everything she can find and then boil it down on a single pot. "Looking pretty tasty isn't it?" She cheerfully smiled as she twist and turn the insides of that pot haphazardly. The content looked more like something you'll find in a witch's cauldron instead of a stew. "I put in a lot of vegetables and healthy stuff into it. It'll taste good, guaranteed! I mean just smell it!" She pulled a spoonful of that bizarre substance and actually took a whiff of its smell.

Marie looked at all this with her usual absent minded look. "This needs a taste test. Saki… you try it."

Saki twitched. Now there's another thing she never tasted before… "Uhh… no… I think I'm good… thanks?"

But Marie won't take no for an answer. She took the spoon and jammed the soup right into Saki's mouth without any riff raff. Saki gasped. Before she can taste anything, she needs to cope with the heat of an exceedingly hot soup coming straight from the still boiling broth. "MMMMMMMHHRMMMMHHH!" She grasped her mouth as the hot soup seared the insides of her mouth!

"Rukino-san! Are you okay?" Nanami Sensei quickly took a glass of water.

"It's okay! I put in all sorts of vegetable and they've all been cooked well! She won't choke or anything!" Shoko cheerfully replied.

Rukino struggled for a bit, building up the courage needed to taste this thing. As soon as the heat subsides and her tongue tasted it… she was surprised that she quickly swallowed it down without a problem, so delicious it was. "…it tasted good!" Saki blinked.

Shouko smiled in triumph and Marie merely chuckled. "Hehe… so when it comes to Shoko, taste won out against appearance eh?"

"Is that a compliment?" Shoko blinked.

Marie simply smirked. "You know it."

Meanwhile Nanami-sensei and the other girls had also begun tasting Shoko's cooking… and they had to agree with Marie: horrid appearance aside, it tasted wonderful.

Shoko chuckled and then she looked at Saki. "Say, Rukino-san!"

"Hm?"

"Thank you for helping us in this cooking class."

Saki blushed. "Think… nothing of it. I didn't do anything… I'm just paying you back."

"Hm?" Shoko smiled.

"Remember? Yesterday you cheered me on too." Saki smiled gently.

"Think nothing of it! That's what everyone would do, right!" Shoko further added with cheer. "Besides, it was pretty fun! Let's do it again some other time!"

"I don't think I want an encore…" Saki smiled nervously. Yeah. Talk about a steep competition. Truth be told, the biggest problem with trying to get in-between Haruto and Shoko has nothing to do with the fact that they're childhood friends. The problem is that Shoko is indeed an easily likable girl. Even Saki found herself liking her lively, cheerful disposition and innocence and couldn't find a reason to hate her. If they weren't after the same boy, Saki would be more than happy to her friend.

"Hoo… this does taste good."

That comment attracted everyone's attention, for it comes from a particularly cold eyed silver haired boy. Upon seeing and recognizing that person, Saki immediately went into high alert. "You…!"

L-Elf merely smirked. "Shashinami Shoko. I have a proposition for you. If you please read it." And he handed her a folder of papers.

**000000000000000**

A little while earlier, down in the dojo…

"KORAAA!" Raizo Yamada flung the nth person overhead, slamming him to the ground. He wildly and eagerly looked around, searching for the next vict-erm-volunteer to be thrown overhead to the mat. "OKAY! WHO'S NEXT!?"

Up above, Haruto, Aina and Kyuuma looked at the commotion with a nervous smile. "Ever since he learnt there's more than one Valvrave, he's been training like heck. He's hoping to pilot one in the future." Kyuma chuckled.

But Haruto wasn't convinced. "He doesn't know…"

Moments later, the three are now in a computer terminal where Haruto was viewing the details of his Valvrave while Kyuuma observed the screen that views the hangar where the Valvraves were being hanged. Currently, Prof. Kibukawa, with the aid of Yusuke Otamaya, their engineering genius of a friend, carefully and methodically disassembles Valvrave I, checking its systems and components. Apparently the two really get along with the Professor complimenting Yusuke multiple times.

As Haruto looked at this, his gaze flew to the other Valvrave on standby. "I understand what Yamada-kun wants… but… he doesn't know that you had to give up your humanity in order to pilot a Valvrave."

"Haruto… is that why you hadn't told anyone about the Valvrave until now?" Kyuma surmised.

"It's terrifying." Haruto winced. "I was able to protect everyone because of it… but… to jack into someone's head… to walk in their shoes… literally… And when the frenzy hits… I really can't control myself… it's like… I'm being moved by someone else… this… immortal body…" Haruto grew more frightened at his body. "Don't tell me… I'm actually already dead?" His hands continue to shiver until suddenly, a pair of small petite hands grab hold of Haruto's.

Said hands belong to Aina, who smiled reassuringly at Haruto. "It's okay." Aina closed her eyes as she felt Haruto's pulse in his veins. "You're alive. And you're our friend."

Aina's calm and shy tone somehow allayed Haruto's fears. The brunette smiled. "Thank you, Aina-chan."

Ever the shy, Aina blushed furiously at that comment and quickly withdraw her hands, much to the knowing Haruto and Kyuuma's amusement. "W…What's more… Haruto-kun… I… I don't think you're a monster. More like… Holy Spirit… I think."

Haruto blinked as he pointed at himself. "Me? Holy Spirit? Are you referring to how I possess people?"

"No!" Aina jerked. "What I meant is… it's like… God had visited you and grant you power." Aina smiled shyly. "You're immortal and can control others… even pilot such an amazing robot. I think only God can do such thing!"

Haruto blinked. Kyuma smiled happily. "It's good isn't it?" he chuckled. "It is way better than monster, right, Haruto?"

Haruto nodded in agreement. "Yeah. I like it."

Aina smiled wider as her blush grew.

Suddenly, they were interrupted by an announcement.

"_I address the citizens of the New Jior."_

"Eh?" Everyone looked up towards the intercom.

"_I, L-Elf Karstein have taken control of your country." _

At about the same time, every door, emergency shutter and blast walls within the whole module rise and sealed itself shut. Every student within the Sakimori High was completely shut and caged. A wall rose up right in between Haruto and Kyuuma, with Aina stuck together with Kyuuma. "Wh… What is this?" Meanwhile, the announcement continues.

"_All citizens are now subject to military conscriptions." _

"L-Elf!" Haruto growled.

"_You will submit your life for the glory of this nation."_

Raizo and his gang also heard this announcement and growled. "I know that voice!"

Kyuuma glared up. "Is this… Coup D'état?"

Suddenly, the announcement addressed him directly. _"By the way, Inuzuka Kyuuma… that place is not safe." _

L-Elf was referring to how Kyuuma and Aina were standing right next to a fire extinguisher… which L-Elf had booby trapped. Moments later, the Fire Extinguisher blew up on his face, but Kyuuma shielded Aina before it does her any harm.

"Inuzuka-senpai!" Aina cried.

"_As you can see, I've placed multiple booby traps across the school."_

In a secretive part of the school, a teenager wearing a heavy Dorssian War armor also looked up, listening to that announcement. His silver hair extended to a long bang that covered one of his eyes, while the other bang was braided. A-Drei listened to every word of that announcement and grunted. "L-Elf… what were you thinking?"

L-Elf calmly spoke to the phone slaved to the school's intercom system. "If you value your life, mind your step."

"Why are you doing this? Heil-Elf!" Shoko screeched.

"It's **L-**elf. I'm doing this, because you are being foolish by rejecting my Army State proposal without thinking it through, Shashinami Shoko." L-Elf replied calmly. "How long do you think this country will last without a proper defense force to protect it? Dorssia is a super power nation with the most powerful military force in the world! Your 'army' consist only of two Valvrave pilots and a bunch untrained children. The road that you set them on… will lead them to their deaths."

"FUCK YOU!" A loud roar suddenly howled from the window of the kitchen. Yamada Raizo, carrying a wooden sword open the window jumped in, having just climbed all the way up there using the water pipe. "I'm Sakimori's strongest man, THUNDER!"

"Y-Yamada-kun! Where did you come from?"

"From the dojo!"

"B… But that's three floors below us!" Nanami-sensei gaped.

"NO GUTS, NO GLORY!" Raizo roared.

At the same time, Saki grabbed a knife and stand before Shoko, pointing the knife at L-Elf. "You stand here calmly; I'm guessing there's no trap here, right?"

L-Elf looked at his opposition: Rukino Saki, the second immortal at the front, and an untrained thug at his back. He sighed. "True… didn't actually foresee I'll be flanked by a pair of idiots."

Raizo growled angrier. "Time to pay you back, you Dorssian dog!"

L-Elf chuckled. "Can you make me?"

"We outnumber you two to one! How strong do you think you are!?" Saki took a step forward.

Both roared as they charged towards the silver haired boy.

Seconds later…

Saki and Raizo were both down on the floor, completely knocked out silly. L-Elf calmly brushed his hands. "Not even worth my time. Now then…" L-Elf turned to all the girls in the kitchen, particularly Shoko. They all look clearly frightened. "Don't worry, if you don't resist, it won't hurt… much. Besides… I need you to see something." L-Elf, in particular, addressed Shoko.

**000000000000000**

Moments later, another announcement was made.

"_I address the citizens of the New Jior. I, L-Elf Karstein have taken control of your country. Tokishima Haruto, head to class 2-B immediately. You will pilot Valvrave and became the core of our country's National Defense Force!"_

Haruto growled. "That guy! Is he seriously going to fight off the entire school!?"

"H… Haruto!" Kyuuma choked from the other side of the sliding door.

Upon hearing the pained tone, Haruto immediately thought of the worst. "Inuzuka-senpai! Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

"I-Inuzuka-senpai t-took a blast to his leg…" Aina peeped, half choking due to tears.

"That explosion earlier?" Haruto gasped.

"It's okay Haruto! It's no biggie! I'm still in one piece and I can still walk! What about you?"

"I'm fine!" Haruto replied. "Are you trapped there… or is there a way out on your end?"

"Actually…" Kyuuma looked around and chuckled nervously. They were completely sealed shut. "I don't think we're going anywhere. L-Elf wanted to make an example of me… I guess."

Haruto sighed. "Alright. Stay there. I'm gonna try to do something."

"Good luck buddy." Kyuuma grinned as he can hear Haruto ran off. Then he turned to the other person, the crying Aina. "There, there, Aina-chan."

"B… But… Your leg…" Aina's lips trembled. Kyuuma's leg is anything but fine. L-Elf explosive was too strong, a shard of the trap embedded itself on Kyuuma's leg. It's a bloody mess, and even if they're not trapped… there's just no way for Kyuuma to go anywhere. But the worst part is that Kyuuma is losing too much blood. His skin grew paler and paler. "You did this for me… you…" Kyuuma could've easily avoided that explosion and he was in a safe distance. But Aina was the one in ground zero, and so Kyuuma took her place at the last instant.

"It's okay." Kyuuma looked lovingly at Aina's teary face with his weakening eyes. "You're worth it… Aina-chan."

"Inuzuka…senpai…" Aina blushed furiously.

**000000000000000**

Haruto quickly made his way to the Zero-G hangar. There, Valvrave 1 has already been reassembled. Haruto quickly floated towards the cockpit. His initial plan was to use Valvrave to somehow deal with that one man army of a soldier. But before he entered the cockpit, he heard the sound of a gun being cocked right at the back of his head. "L-Elf?"

It was L-elf indeed. "I don't care if you're an immortal. I don't think even _you_ can survive having your head blown off to bits."

"But… how did you get here so fast?"

"That was a recording, Tokishima Haruto." L-Elf explained simply. "I recorded that announcement 15 minutes ago, after I bound and gagged 20 female students in the kitchen, including your childhood friend, Shashinami Shoko."

"If you lay a finger on her hair-"

"But I've already done more than that, Tokishima Haruto. And not just her. Do you have any comprehension on how much damage I can do in that time period? I can kill every last one of the students in this school and you won't even know it until I say so." L-Elf merely speaks the facts. "You cannot save those who are dear to you if you continue to be this naïve, Tokishima Haruto."

"People who are dear to me?"

"I told you. A world without violence is a make believe dream!" As he said that, L-Elf suddenly pushed Haruto away as their spot were suddenly rained with gunshots. Haruto turned and saw another Dorssian Soldier with white hair and a long bang covering one eye, wielding an assault rifle. L-Elf looked at his former comrade in arms. "A-Drei. I should've known." Yes. He knew that full frontal assault by X-Ein is just too straight forward. That's Cain's style. Under cover of the battle's aftermath, A-Drei must've infiltrated the Module to spy on them.

"That's very well dodged, L-Elf! Even with one eye, I can still recognize you!" A-Drei began to ferociously open fire at L-Elf. L-Elf easily dodged the bullets, but he made it so that he floated towards Haruto, using him as a human shield. Haruto was shot several times on his shoulder and leg.

"I thought this place will become a battlefield someday." L-Elf calmly pressed a few buttons on his phone before he disappeared from A-Drei's sight.

A-Drei grunted. "Where is he?" He ignored the gravely injured Haruto in search of the bigger threat. All the sudden, the flashbang grenades L-Elf had set up as a trap sprang out and momentarily blinded the one eyed soldier. Moments later, L-Elf had already aimed a gun at A-Drei's head. "Don't move A-Drei."

A-Drei realized he couldn't do anything and lower his rifle. And then, still aiming a gun at A-Drei's head, L-Elf dialed a number in his phone.

**000000000000000**

Back in the kitchen, Dr. Kibukawa had just managed to smash the door open and beheld the sight of multitude of girls and one guy being bound and gagged, squirming on the floor, all of them are either as angry as hell (as in the case of Saki and Raizo) or scared to the point of fainting (Nanami-sensei). The said teacher quickly woke up as soon as Kibukawa stripped away the tape covering Nanami's face. "Kibukawa-sensei! How did you get here?"

"Well… I'm a physics teacher…"

Suddenly, the intercom in the kitchen blared again, and L-Elf's voice echoed. _"By now, I assume Dr. Kibukawa is there to rescue all of you."_

Everyone looked up at the intercom as Kibukawa went full alert.

"_To Dr. Kibukawa, I say this: prioritize rescuing Rukino Saki first. She's one of the Valvrave pilot, and right now, she's needed. A Dorssian army is right at our door, and I have a suspicion that this module's external defense mechanism has been offlined and the gates may have been opened. I would suggest you rescue her and her only, leave the rest and quickly prioritize on those who can bring the defenses online. That would be Satomi Renbokuji, still trapped in the Student Council office. The door will unlock automatically once it read your biometrics. I suggest you make haste. And please do not try to turn the monitor off."_

"What does he mean by that last one?" As soon as that question escape Kibukawa's lips, the built in holographic screen on the Kitchen's whiteboard turned on, revealing a live streaming video of the event occurring in the hangar.

"What is this?" Kibukawa did as he was told and began freeing Saki first.

"I don't know." A very angry Saki took the tape off her mouth. "That L-Elf said something about wanting us to see something… Anyway… I'm off."

"Off where?"

"Carmilla! If those Dorssians are really coming I'm gonna tear them a new one!"

**000000000000000**

A-Drei heard all this and couldn't believe his ears. "L-Elf! How could you betray us like this?"

"And what if I say I didn't betray you?" L-Elf replied calmly. "Would you forgive me? Even after I shot one of your eyes?"

"I would." A-Drei answered quickly. "You are the man that would become my right hand man!" A-Drei turned around as he let go of the bandages that covered his shot eye. "One eye is a small price to pay if it meant securing the ablest of hands!"

"I will not become anybody's hands." L-Elf replied. "Besides, I've found my own hand."

"What? Who!?" A-Drei couldn't imagine someone like L-Elf could find someone whom he found worthy of his notice.

"L-ELF!" Suddenly, a gunshot can be heard, missing A-Drei's leg by inches.

Both Dorssian Soldiers barely flinched. L-Elf turned and saw Haruto is on his feet and had somehow acquired a gun. However, with a hole on his shoulder and leg, he could barely stand. "L-ELF! FREE THE SCHOOL!"

"Stop before you make your injury worse. I know A-Drei. Even with one eye, he's a good shot. I'm surprised you're still standing."

"I… won't stop… before you free the school!" Haruto pant and gasped. "We… won't become your soldiers!" Haruto aimed the gun at L-Elf.

Seeing that, A-Drei growled and aimed his rifle at Haruto. "Drop your gun!"

Much to his surprise, L-Elf aimed his gun at A-Drei. "No. A-Drei. _You_ drop your gun. This guy here is _my_ hand."

It took a few moments for A-Drei to fully absorb what l-Elf had just said. This guy!? Seriously? A half dead civilian who clearly never even hold a gun?

"L-ELF!" Haruto roared again. "FREE THIS SCHOOL! NOW!"

"Don't you get it, Tokishima Haruto? This school… no… this country NEEDS me. From the very beginning I have no intention on undoing this country. Everything I break, I can remake. But think about it. Me, a single solitary man managed to bring your so called 'country' to the brink of destruction. Dorssia are filled people like me! What chance do you think you have to survive a full on onslaught from the full military might of Dorssia?"

"L-Elf! Come to your senses and return to my side!" A-Drei grew somewhat desperate, seeing little logic in what L-Elf is doing.

Alas, before the situation can be resolved, a white mech suddenly just flew in. The mech is simple in design, white in coloration. It bears a pair of thick rectangular shields on its shoulders, while its arms are mounted with Gatling Gun on one hand, and a pincer on the other. The mech has no legs, but it floats around easily enough thanks to a high powered main booster on its lower waist. A Waffe. Dorssian standard main battle unit.

"Q-Vier! I've unlocked the gates for you! Capture them!"

Alas, Q-Vier, a maniacal red haired boy, has trouble following orders. "Capture?" he insanely smiled. "Meh! What a bother. I'll just kill them all!" Suddenly he pressed the gatling gun and blasted the whole platform, nearly hitting L-Elf and A-Drei… but completely engulfed the still injured Haruto.

Once the fire settles, there were almost nothing left of Haruto's mangled body parts…

**000000000000000**

All this was transmitted life to the screen in the kitchen.

Upon seeing the brutal murder of Haruto live, Shoko collapsed on her knees. "…H… haruto…?" she muttered. Tears forming in her eyes. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGGHHHHH!" and she shrieked.

It wasn't just the kitchen. The event was being broadcasted life to every holographic transceiver in every phone and announcement board. The sight of Haruto's mangled remains can be seen by every student in the Sakimori high. Even to Kyuuma and Aina, who watched in horror as the disfigured remains of Haruto float in front of them.

Saki paused for one second as she registered what she just saw the screen of her Carmilla. "H… Ha…Haruto…?" An unspeakable rage that buries all reason exploded throughout her being as she gritted her teeth so tight her lips bleed.

**000000000000000**

Meanwhile, Q-Vier couldn't care less of Haruto's mangled remains floating on his screen. He crazily chased after his main target: L-Elf!

A-Drei quickly regretted his choice for the intrusion force. Thanks to Dorssian's ruthless military regime, Q-Vier is a complete nutjob with lethal skills. "Q-Vier! I said capture him! NOT kill him!"

"Huhuhu… You're so trusting Mr. Prince! YAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Q-Vier wouldn't care less and start firing haphazardly allover the hangar. Even A-Drei was forced to hide behind objects.

**000000000000000**

"I knew it. Sending Q-Vier there is a bad, bad idea…" H-Neun mumbled. He can just about imagine that maniac going crazy down there.

"Then why didn't you say anything?" X-Ein retorted.

"This is A-Drei's operation. It's his decision."

All the sudden, half a dozen manned and unmanned Waffes were sliced in half by energy Chakram from Saki's Carmilla. This clearly alerted the whole Dorssian forces waiting right outside module 77.

"You Dorssian bastards…" Half blinded by free flowing tears and uncontrollable rage, a half mad Saki roared angrily. "I'M GONNA KILL YOU ALL!" And the green Valvrave charged at them at full speed.

"Whoops. We got company."

**000000000000000**

A-Drei wanted to approach the Waffe so he can board it, but with the insane Q-Vier firing allover the place, he can't get close. Throughout this mess, the largest piece of Haruto's remains, that of his bloodied mangled head and limbless torso floated right in front of A-Drei. A-Drei looked at the poor boy. He still finds it hard to believe that L-Elf would trust this boy over a comrade who had done and seen it all together side by side with him.

Meanwhile, Q-Vier continued to follow L-Elf, intent on seeing the look on his face when his gatling gun rip him apart, unaware he's walking into another one of L-Elf's trap.

L-Elf had already sprung it though. First he pulled down the lever that activates the Valvrave harness. Suddenly, the needle straps used to hold Valvrave on standby rise up and locked the Waffe in place. "Hoee? Needles?"

"I must thank whoever responsible for your 'good upbringing'…" Next lever activates the catapult and the Waffe, and Q-Vier, were literally 'kicked' out of the Module.

A-Drei looked at what supposedly his escape vehicle. "As expected of you, L-Elf." He sighed. "But I still find it hard to believe that you would choose that useless civilian over us, L-Elf!"

L-Elf looked at Haruto's remains floating behind an unwary A-drei. For a moment there, even he had his doubts… until he saw a familiar red glint. "One thing… about that hand of mine, A-drei."

"?"

L-Elf smirked. "He's an **immortal monster**."

"!?" A-Drei had just caught on with what L-Elf had just said when suddenly, he turned around and saw Haruto's remain was glowing eerily red.

Red glowing markings that looked like vicious bird scratch appeared on his half blasted head and his one remaining eye gleamed red. Blood red and gold energy particle burst from his mangled limbs, the same kind of energy bursting out of the Valvrave whenever it was going to use its Harakiri blade. Said Energy formed an approximation of arms and legs made of entirely of pure energy. **"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGGHHHHH!" **The berserk Haruto lunged at A-drei, mouth opened with fangs protruding out, ready to bite.

A-Drei, in horror, open fired at the berserk monster of a half dead human, a couple of his shots actually tore the creature that was Haruto's cheek and one landed right on his forehead. And still he won't fall. Too late and too shocked to dodge, A-Drei can only watch helplessly as Haruto ripped his armor like a wet tissue, revealing his neck. And without further ado, his fangs sank deep into A-drei's neck, earning a scream.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGGHHHHH!"

**000000000000000**

Outside, the Dorssian army was made to taste something hell hath not: a scorned woman's wrath. Upon seeing the mangled remains of her secret crush and unaware of what's happening in the hangar, Rukino Saki drop all façade of sternness and calm she was known for and went blood mad and wild, destroying Waffe left and right, manned and unmanned, screaming hysterically in her cockpit as she did so. By the time Q-Vier was finally returned back into space, the Carmilla had all but destroyed half of the invading army single handedly. Only the Ideal Annihilator kept their distance.

"Whoah… that is one angry girl." H-Neun gulped.

X-Ein frowned. "How did you know it was a girl?"

"Believe me, only a girl can fight like that. My intuition is never wrong. More importantly, she's angry. VERY angry." He looked at Q-Vier in his Waffe. "Who did you kill before they kicked you out?"

"Huuuh? Some guy! A civilian, barely worth mentioning." an unrepentant Q-Vier replied.

"Great. You just killed someone's boyfriend." H-Neun shook his head. "X-Ein, the red one isn't here. Let's just begin with it anyway before that girl wipe us all out, shall we?"

"Fine!" X-Ein nodded.

The Ideal Annihilator used by H-Neun charged towards the rampaging Carmilla. Saki saw the incoming elite units. "I don't care how many you are… I'LL TEAR YOU ALL APART!"

H-Neun pressed the button and launched the special weapon they've prepared: dozens upon dozens of electromagnetic boomerangs. The boomerangs quickly swarmed the Carmilla, and for a moment, Saki was brought back to her senses and saw all these boomerangs encircling her. Quite a few of them were strapped to Carmilla's leg. Warnings blared on the Valvrave's console, depicting the schematics of Carmilla's limbs, denoting its right leg was inoperable. Worse, the Valvrave's temperature, already on the verge of reaching its limits due to Saki's overuse, were rising sharply. "Eh… what is this?" Worse, Carmilla stopped responding to Saki's angry commands.

X-Ein smiled in triumph as he saw how the Green Valvrave became helpless. "Magnetic attachment Boomerangs designed for capture during security enforcements operations. With this, your dance has been cut short."

Saki's rage instantly subsides as she saw in horror as more and more boomerangs are attaching to Carmilla's entire being and electricity coruscate allover its body. Pretty soon, the warning signs spread from the legs to the Valvrave's entire body structure. In desperation and in anger, Saki pushed her controllers multiple times, but Carmilla remained unresponsive. "MOVE! MOVE! MOVE YOU PIECE OF JUNK! I NEED TO DO THIS FOR HARUTO!"

**000000000000000**

Back in the hangar, Haruto dropped the catatonic A-Drei on the floor while his limbs had just finished reforming itself.

"Interesting." L-Elf commented. "So those bites can not only transfer consciousness… you can also use it to drain someone… using their essence… or whatever it is you drain to temporarily boost your regenerative powers."

"L-Elf!" Haruto hissed. "FREE THIS SCHOOL!"

"Have you heard nothing that I've said?" L-Elf chuckled. "It was never my intention to take occupation of this school. Besides, I already have what I want."

"What do you want, L-Elf?"

L-Elf pointed to his left. "You."

"What?" Haruto turned around and saw what L-Elf was pointing at: a hotwired camera. "What did you…?"

"We're **live**. Everything that is happening in this hangar is being broadcasted live to every holographic transreceiver in this school. Everyone in this module, including Shashinami Shoko, now knows _what_ you really _are… _Tokishima Haruto."

True to his word, every student with a cellphone or an ipod or any electronic device with a screen had just watched everything that happened in the hangar. They just saw how Haruto Tokishima viciously bites a person in the neck and then regenerate whole limbs by obviously sucking the man's blood out, just like the vampire they used to read in comic books and animes. This also includes the still bound and gagged girls in the kitchen, who watched everything in horror through the screen, including one eyes wide Shashinami Shoko, who stared in disbelief at the monitor, seeing the creature that was once her childhood friend.

Haruto gazed with eyes wide, imagining hundreds of widened eyes behind that camera who just saw everything that had transpired. He fell on his knees in despair as he realized… his chance to regain back his normal life had just been destroyed… irrecoverably. "Why are you doing this to me?" He growled in misery and barely controlled fury.

"To show you what you really are, Tokishima Haruto." L-Elf knelt before Haruto as he pulled back one of his sleeves. "You're not a human anymore. Abandon hope of a normal life, you are a MONSTER! An immortal monster with powers beyond any normal human! Your friends will not accept you, just as the whole world will not tolerate your existence. If you want any hope of surviving it… I'm the only one who can help you now." L-Elf shoved his hand at Haruto.

Haruto, with dead eyes looked at L-Elf's pale skinned hand and realized he's asking him to transfer his consciousness to him. "Why… would I want to do this… for **you**!?"

"Not me." L-Elf replied. "But Rukino Saki and Valvrave Unit IV is currently out there, being butchered by Dorssian elite; each of them is completely out of her league. The loss of even one Valvrave is a severe blow. Even more so if Dorssia capture one and understand its workings. You need my help to survive this, Tokishima Haruto."

Haruto trembled and looked at L-Elf's cold logical eyes.

"Do it. Everyone had seen what kind of monster you are. Show them how much a monster you can be, Tokishima Haruto."

And Haruto gritted his teeth as he answered with trembling lips: "I **hate **you…!" He realized he had no choice.

L-Elf merely chuckled. "Never asked to be liked."

Haruto finally took the bite.

The next instance, he watched as the empty shell of Tokishima Haruto collapsed on the floor. Haruto, in L-Elf's body looked at his well muscled hand, and then he looked at the camera. He can just about imagine students are gasping, squealing and murmuring. The one person he just couldn't imagine was Shoko. He dare not imagine on how would she feel when she saw him like that. He looked at his body and A-Drei's comatose body on the floor. He silently took both bodies and brought them somewhere safe before he quickly boarded the Valvrave.

**000000000000000**

Outside, Carmilla is finally reaching her overheating threshold.

Inside, Saki began to despair. Especially when she saw H-neun's Annihilator is approaching her, pincers at the ready.

Saki had stopped raging, and now, all she can do is cracking… badly. Her resolution to never cry shattered. And she cried. In her cries, she can only think of one name… one person who is now so far away… "Haruto…"

H-Neun was getting ready to take his prize. "I'm taking you home." H-neun smirked.

Saki cried one last time with the image of that brunette in her mind. "Haruto…!"

Suddenly, a green blast parted the two mech. H-Neun looked to the right and saw the red Valvrave 1 finally entered the field. H-Neun gawked. "I thought you destroyed that thing?"

"I thought I did!" Q-Vier moaned.

"HARUTO!" Saki cried tears of joy.

Valvrave 1 went to full throttle and in one red blur, half a dozen Waffes were shot down with only two shots. The Red Valvrave under the control of Haruto possessed L-Elf rampaged throughout the space. Saki quickly contacted Haruto. Much to her initial shock, the face that appears on the cockpit was that of L-Elf. "Haruto!?" 

"It's me! I jacked his body!" Haruto's voice came out of L-Elf's lips, instantly allaying Saki's rage and fear even further. Saki quickly calmed down, wiped her tears as she once again hid her boundless joy of knowing the love of her life is still there behind the mask of professionality, and she quickly warned him. "Haruto! Be careful with those boomerang things!"

"Got it! You stay put! I'll deal with this." Haruto/L-Elf went full throttle on the Valvrave and charged straight towards the remaining Dorssian forces.

X-Ein quickly instructed: "Everyone! FULL ATTACK!" 

Every Waffe and Ideals fired every muzzle of their guns, blanketing the space with projectiles. But against a Valvrave controlled by a super soldier, they might just well shoot air. The Valvrave rapidly opened fire, sniping multiple waffes with every shot, all the while it zig-zaged across the bullet storm at blinding blurring speed. H-Neun gaped. "What accuracy! This style of fighting is…!" H-Neun could've sworn he was fighting L-Elf… AND A-Drei in one body.

Indeed, something happened to Haruto. Before, he used L-Elf's body instinctively. But now, all the sudden, he knew what he had to do, what he can do, and what it will do. Memories and information came pouring in. Names: H-Neun, A-Drei, L-Elf, Q-Vier, X-Ein. Weapons skill: melee, command and control, Commando, Shock Trooper, Long range engagements… He had every information on everyone he's facing, what they can do, what they will do. What's more, L-elf's intellect was boosted by additional information coming from the one that Haruto brought with him: the intellect and skills of A-drei. He knew what he had to do. After the last Waffe was skewered with another shot, the Valvrave turned towards H-Neun's Annihilator.

Haruto frowned as an image of a blonde haired man with dark brown undertone and an ear piercing appeared on his head. 'H-Neun has a tendency to go close combat…' memory just poured into his mind without him trying.

H-Neun had yet to realize what sort of enemy he was facing. "Close Combat? Interesting!"

"H-Neun! DON'T!"

Ignoring X-Ein's warning, H-Neun charged forward, just as the Valvrave answered his challenge and charged as well. Both mech are closing their distance at a very rapid rate, but at the last moment, Valvrave changed direction and moved to the side, catching the Annihilator off guard. "WHAT!?" H-Neun gaped in shock.

Haruto-L-Elf aimed at one target: the Annihilator's arm that hosts the boomerang launcher. With one shot at the right angle, Valvrave's rifle blasted said arm and nearly hitting the Annihilator's cockpit, much to H-Neun's surprise.

X-Ein quickly contacted H-Neun. "H-Neun! You alright?"

"Sorry… I let down my guard."

"_You… didn't."_

Their conversation was interrupted when a broken encrypted transmission entered their coms. H-Neun and X-Ein recognize that voice as A-Drei. "A-Drei?"

In the Module 77's hangar, a very weakened A-Drei managed to get a hold of a communicator to transmit his voice to his comrades. "Get out of here… you can't beat that thing…"

"A-Drei…" H-Neun gawked in horror. "You're still in the hangar!? Hang tight! We can still get you!"

"_NO!" _A-Drei screeched. "No! Don't. You'll only… kill… yourself. Retreat!" A-Drei gazed weakly at the red glow in space that is the Crimson Valvrave.

"_That thing… is controlled by L-Elf's body, L-Elf's skills, L-Elf's talent…but even worse, it has absorbed my skills and abilities… pooling them together into L-Elf's body… creating an abomination of nature… but the mind controlling that abomination is an even greater monster, the likes of which the world has never seen. An immortal invincible being that cannot be killed…!_" Everyone who heard A-drei's words looked at the blood red Valvrave in horror, imagining the monstrosity at the helm of that machine: L-Elf body and skills, A-Drei's tactical mind, under control of a immortal monster. H-Neun and X-Ein couldn't imagine what kind of creature that could instill such horrifying terror in the heart of their prideful prince. A-Drei pants and gasp, close to fainting. _"L-Elf… had awakened a monster… Go! Report back to Colonel Cain! Module 77… is a lair of a demon!" _

H-Neun and X-Ein looked at each other through the coms and they reluctantly obliged their team leader. "Blitzendegen."

And the Dorssian forces finally retreated, and module 77 was saved… again.

Meanwhile, Saki's Carmilla had cooled down well enough to move again, and the boomerangs have all come off. The first thing she did was fly close to the Red Valvrave. "Haruto! Haruto! It's you right? You're still alive?"

"Yeah… I'm okay."

Saki clasped her mouth, and her tears flew freely. She doesn't care anymore if anyone will see her cry. She just want to cry now and so she cries to her heart's content. "Come on. Let's go back!"

Upon hearing the word go back, Haruto paused and remembered what happened.

Saki contacted the command and control to report that they're coming back and prepare the docking bay. Usually, she'll get a cheerful yes backed up with cheery background sound… now… she gets no response. "Guys? Haloo? Anybody there?"

"It's no use… Rukino-san."

"Eh?'

"They know." Haruto muttered under his breath. "They know."

"They… know?" It took a moment and Saki finally understood what happened.

Haruto looked at l-elf's hands and start chuckling bitterly. "Hu… Huhuhu… huaHa… haahahahahahaha… what is this talk about Holy Spirit? Thinking I can still try to live normally? Ahahahahahahahahahaha… hahahahahahaha…!"

**000000000000000**

**000000000000000**

**Yep. I'm changing a lot of things. The nature of the curse, Magius, the way their Rune power works. Who lives and who dies… a lot of things. **

**Plus, I'm making this in my stride. Just to clear my head off a bit after the New Year. Things are really getting heavy in Samurai Seed and I need a refreshment from the limitations of medieval to the technological freedom of the far future. **

**Happy New year 2014. **


	2. Roar of the Valvraves

When Carmilla and Valvrave landed on the hangar, and Haruto (in L-Elf body) as well as Saki floated out of their cockpit, they were welcomed by an expected icy reception from everyone of the Sakimori's student council, with Shoko at the fore-front. She was holding Haruto's lifeless body in her hands, crying as she called his name over and over to an unresponsive husk, while some students were holding on to the greatly weakened and all tied up A-Drei.

The atmosphere, appropriately, is far from happy. As it stands, it's more like they were criminals of the most heinous and dangerous sort walking into an arrest.

When Shoko saw L-Elf walking out of the Crimson Valvrave and seeing Haruto's lifeless body in her hand, she initially assumed the worst. She dropped Haruto's body and rushed at L-Elf with angry bloodshot eyes. Without saying anything, she punched 'L-Elf's' face with all the strength that she can muster. To Haruto-L-Elf, it felt like someone pushed his face with a soft bat. In fact, one can see that Shoko's fist suffered more damage when she punched L-Elf's rock hard face.

"You…! You…!" in the zero-G hangar, Shoko's tears floated like balls of water around her face. She swung her bruised fist back, getting ready to punch him again, but Haruto-L-Elf quickly stopped her from further injuring herself.

"Stop." Haruto's voice coming out of L-Elf's lips stopped Shoko dead on her tracks. Shoko looked in horror and confusion at the white haired boy.

Shoko looked at L-Elf's eyes, and to her shock, she recognize that look. That ice cold green eyes is now looking at her the same way Haruto would do with his warm blue eyes. Haruto-L-Elf walked towards the lifeless husk on the floor.

Haruto took his lifeless hand and bite it. Moments later, L-Elf's eyes went empty and he fell on the ground, knocked unconscious. Conversely, Haruto's lifeless body rejuvenated and life returned to his empty eyes.

When Haruto returned to his body and looked at everyone's reaction, what he gets was a multitude of shocked and horrified eyes. He fully expected that from everyone, after that shocking live revelation… but… Haruto didn't turn around. He knew, if he turned around now, he'll see the look on Shoko's face. Shoko's eyes, widened in horror and shock. Perhaps he'll also see her fearful gaze, which will turn into anger and eventually hate. Haruto closed his eyes. He's quite certain he won't be able to live through that.

"Haruto…"

Her voice reached his ears.

"I just… watched this incredible film."

Everyone's eyes bar Haruto's turned to Shoko.

"Some films have some incredible special effects aren't they? So incredible they can look so real."

Her voice was clearly strained as she tried to maintain her usual cheerful tone, but Haruto can easily tell she was cracking.

"In that film I saw some sick special effect… of you getting blown to bits."

Haruto balled his fist as he can feel a tightening on his chest. She's cracking. He can tell without looking. She's breaking badly.

"But it's just a film right? It's just a make believe movie… with special effect and all… Right?" At that point, her cheerful disposition cracked.

In truth, Shoko was already on her knees. Her widened green eyes were flooded in tears. She's still in utter denial over everything that has happened. She still refused to believe it. She still refused to believe that her childhood friend is no longer human. This is worsened with the fact that Haruto refused to neither look at her miserable state nor respond to her childish questions.

At this point, Shoko became desperate. "SAY SOMETHING!" She sobbed. "SAY ANYTHING! LOOK AT ME AND ANSWER ME! LIE TO ME! IF IT'S HARUTO I'LL BELIEVE ANYTHING YOU SAY!" She shrieked hysterically. "…please… please… tell me…"

Haruto closed his eyes. What he's about to do will be the cruelest thing he's ever done to her. He took a gun from L-Elf's holster and cocked it, checking if it's loaded or not. It is.

"Yamada-san…" Haruto prepared the gun as he addressed the bewildered boy.

"Hng?" Raizo rolled his eyes.

"When it starts… I won't be able to control myself and I might attack innocent bystanders… you better pin me to the ground first chance you get… and don't restrain your strength, don't let go until I calmed down. I'm pretty strong in that state."

Yamada Raizo saw the determination in Haruto's eyes and answered that determination with his own. "I'll stake my honor as the strongest man in Sakimori High: I'll pin you down so tight you won't be able to move a muscle. This is a promise from man to man."

Haruto smiled sadly. He turned around and looked at Shoko's wrecked state. He smiled sadly at her one last time, and put the gun to his head. Shoko's eyes widened as Haruto mouthed: "Good Bye." and fired.

Blood, torn flesh, grey matter, an eyeball, and other bile spread across the zero G environment like gelatinous red pearls, floating out of a hole in Haruto's head.

At first, the audiences were clearly shocked, and Shoko was as thunderstruck as she can be.

But then… something began to happen. Haruto's eye suddenly gleamed red, and red glowing crisscrossing scars appeared allover his face and fangs protruding out of his teeth. Raizo saw this and, as promised, he jumped at Haruto and pinned him to the floor, head's down. At the same time, the berserk Haruto began to roar and yell, squirming under Raizo's weight, struggling to break free. Red and gold energy bursting out of his open wound, touching and binding the pieces of his shattered head.

For his part, Raizo was shocked as he found himself hard pressed to keep this 'Haruto' in place. 'Holy… he's this strong!?' As his face smeared the floor, Haruto's mouth clenched several times, desperate to take a bite out of someone, anyone. Judging by the way he looked at Shoko hungrily, the said girl seems to be the primary candidate. But Raizo had given Haruto his word as a man. And he has no intention to break it. "Oi! YOU GUYS! HELP ME RESTRAIN HIM!" He called in some help from the other judo club members and they reluctantly lend their aid. Raizo pin Haruto's head to the ground while two other guys were struggling to restrain his arms. Three men struggled to hold a boy barely half their size to the ground.

Seeing how Haruto struggled so, Saki quickly took action. Running past the horrified Shoko, Saki opened the collar area of her pilot suit and shoved her own neck to Haruto. Seeing fresh neck, Haruto waste no time and sank his teeth into Saki's flesh. Saki gritted her teeth as she can feel Haruto was draining something out of her. Her blood… and something else.

As it happened, the hole on the other side of Haruto's head began to reunite itself, shred muscle strands knit themselves back together as the wound close and shrunk. His eyeball flew back to its socket as eyebrows and eyelashes reformed. It's like watching how the wound happened in reverse, and eventually, the hole close down and Haruto's head reverted back to its original state, as if it was never blown by a headshot.

Once the wound was no more, the red markings on Haruto's face vanished; his eyes reverted back to his original state, and along with it, his sanity returned and the boy stopped biting. Saki collapsed to her knees with her mangled neck bathed in her blood. However, moments later, that blood is nothing but cosmetic, as she cleaned the blood away, revealing a fully healed neck, much to everyone's horror.

At that point, Haruto also stopped struggling. Yamada and his friends now have easier time to restrain him. But after that outburst, they kept him pinned, just in case.

For his part, Haruto was quite satisfied as he got what he wanted. After that little demonstration, saying all other students were scared out of their wits… would be an understatement.

"Renbokuji-Senpai…" Haruto murmured.

Satomi jumped upon hearing Haruto addressed him. "Y-Yes?" He stuttered.

"Now you know why I can't let anyone touch those valvraves, yes?"

Satomi's teeth clattered as he nodded furiously.

Haruto continued. "Find the deepest, darkest hole you can find on this school… and lock me in there."

**Chapter 2**

**Roar of the Valvraves**

Barely a few hours after the whole headshot affair, chatter was once again abound allover the school. Messages on stream mostly discuss about the fact that Tokishima Haruto has become a blood sucking monster, popularly known as vampire. Reactions varied from person to person. Most understandably, were scared shitless.

"You're saying there's a genuine, blood sucking honest to God Vampire right beneath our school?"

"And I thought he was some normal timid guy… what a freak!"

But, there also those… who are like this.

SOK! A guy was sent flying with a fist shaped bruise on his face.

"Who're you calling freak!?" Said fist belong to an angry Yamada Raizo. "Just try and call Haruto-Aniki freak, I'll TURN your face to a freak!"

The gossip monger ran off in fear.

One of Raizo's company looked in wonder at their leader. "Raizo-aniki… why did you call Haruto… aniki?"

"Shuddup! I call him what I like!" Raizo barked angrily, momentarily scaring his crew. But after some time, Raizo calmed down and answered. "…because he's a true man. In every way."

"Huh?" They blinked.

"When I first saw him, I thought he's one of those happy go lucky, yellow bellied, beltway pansies. But any guy with enough guts to sacrifice his humanity to turn into monster for the sake of protecting everyone is not a monster. That's a man among man!" Raizo turned around and glared at his subordinates. "Anyone who wants to call him any funny names must ask my permission first! Though I have no intention to give any permission whatsoever though."

"Haaah…"

Naturally, news this big, spread around by student's mouth, it should take only minutes for it to reach outside world…

Satomi's vice president, Iori Kitagawa was still thoroughly shaken after witnessing what she correctly described as: "-The most horrifying thing I've ever seen!"

Surprisingly, Satomi kept quite a level head on this matter. "Now, now. Let's all be calm."

"How can I calm down when…" Iori looked at Satomi's unnaturally calm expression and she nodded down. "B… But… president! You lock that thing in the basement? Will it be safe? Will it be enough? For the sake of student's security… we should immediately sent him off the module as soon as-"

"Watch your tongue, Vice President."

The girl gasped.

"If we send Tokishima Haruto away, who will pilot the Valvrave the next time Dorssia attacks?"

"There are other people…?"

"And turn them into monsters like him as well!?" Satomi's stern scoffing turned into an angry yell, earning a short screech from the vice president. "Don't be too hasty on making decisions without thinking through the consequences!"

"H… hai…" But then, the Vice President seems to have something else to say. "A… Ano… president…"

"What else?"

"Umm… is there something wrong with the WIRED Network these days?"

"What do you mean?"

"It's just… the story about Tokishima Haruto and all… everyone hears it… but… I keep searching the net and no one seem to post so much as a blog or a twitter or anything…"

It's been three hours since the headshot incident and not even a single uproar happened on the internet regarding the world's first genuine vampire. Satomi blinked. He didn't remember setting up any kind of information censure… and then he snapped. He knew one person who can hack the internet and block specific information within minutes.

**00000000000000**

After the headshot incident, Shoko didn't really know what to do, wandering around like a lifeless doll. But she eventually ended up in Akira's shack, where she found the still bound and gagged Computer Genius shut-in, and then sharing her snacks, giving her most of the things she made, but barely eating any herself.

"There… this snack goes with this jam… it taste good! Right Akira-chan?"

Akira tasted it and she nodded in agreement. But while she happily munched the snack in her mouth, she saw Shoko seem prefer to go and cry her eyes out.

Akira saw this and understands. L-Elf tied and gagged her, but she can still see everything that was happening. She doesn't care much if this Tokishima Haruto has turned into vampire or something… but when she saw how it tore Shoko apart, she felt compelled to do something.

"S… Sh… Sho…ko…" Akira stuttered.

"Hm?"

"Monitor… look…"

Shoko crawled to look at the monitor.

She saw a video of Haruto get blown to pieces in youtube, erased. A blow by blow picture of Haruto's head regenerate, erased. A blog of how Haruto bit a dorssian soldier to regenerate his limbs, erased. Everything was erased.

"Akira-chan… this is…"

"Insert… program… to the net… hunt data… Vampire Haruto… erase." Akira phrased it word by word slowly. If she went all technical, she doubt Shoko would understand. That and she's still having trouble with this whole… conversation thing.

The first thing she did after Shoko came and untied her after the whole L-elf coup d'état ordeal was uploading a certain program into the net. A program of her own making that will literally hunt down and erase all sort of data pertaining things that she specified; In this case, everything that pertains to Tokishima Haruto being a super space vampire. From blog to youtube video cam. From twitter to Google photos. Everything was erased as soon as they hit the WIRED Network.

"Akira…"

"This way… Haruto… Vampire… no one… knows… limit… module… Haruto… safe… Shoko… cheer up." Akira looked at Shoko, expecting her to smile… but what she get, was Shoko in tears.

"Sob… Sob…" Shoko trembled as her tears flooded freely. "I'm sorry… I just… I just don't know what…" She buried her face to her knees. Whens he cried, Akira actually panicked a bit. Did she do something wrong. "I'm sorry… (sob) I… I already promised that I won't cry… (sob) but…" Akira calmed down when she realized she wasn't reason Shoko cried. But now she's confused on what to do to cheer her up.

"Akira!" Said girl gasped when she heard the sound of her big brother right outside.

Indeed, Satomi is right outside her sister's shack, partly to bring her stuff, partly to ask her of her most recent undertaking. "Akira, sorry I'm late. There's a lot of thing going on… there's something I want to ask you…" As he opened the curtain, he saw his sister… and Shashinami Shoko crying her eyes out. "Shashinami?"

A pillow landed on his face, followed swiftly by a kick from Akira. "DON'T PEEK! OUT!" She actually shouted.

Satomi was more shocked of another matter entirely. "Akira… allowed someone else in other than me?" and he gritted his teeth in disbelief. "What's more… it's that Shashinami again!?"

**00000000000000**

And finally… there's the matter of two Dorssian prisoners.

A-Drei and L-Elf were locked in the most secure prison available:

Strapped head to toe on the gurney, forcing them to face the ceiling RIGHT in front of two tied down Space Vampires, both of the Dorssian prisoners sharing a cell with one of them.

This particular one is also being strapped to the wall, though right now he's now struggling to break free of his restraints, jaws snapping nonstop in literal bloodthirst.

The other inmate, Saki looked in horror at the creature that is his fellow Valvrave pilot from her cell, together with a horrified Aina who was delivering Saki her meal. "Haruto…" Saki moaned helplessly from her separate cell. The students arrested them both, and she didn't resist. But she insisted that she's placed somewhere where she can keep an eye on Haruto at all times, she even consider sharing a cell with him. But Haruto, in his kindness, wouldn't allow that request to be accepted. So they compromise by putting her in a cell next to his. Unlike Haruto, she wasn't restrained, at least, not as tight as his.

Haruto roared and screamed as red scars appeared on his face. He was once again beinhg overtaken by the curse, his wrist and ankles began to bleed from having struggled to break free from these purposefully tight restraints. Drool and saliva trickled at the corner of his raging mouth.

Saki couldn't leave her eyes off Haruto. His screams were not screams of fury or animal. To her, it's more like screams of sheer unbearable pain… the screams of his humanity being torn apart inside out. And she couldn't stand it anymore. "Aina! Please! Let me out of here! I know what he needs and I'll gladly let him do it to me! Please!"

Aina looked at Saki's pained and sorrowful expression and realized how much Haruto meant for her. Unfortunately, she can't. "I'm sorry, Saki-chan… but I don't have the key… Tokishima-kun gave it to President for safekeeping, so…"

"It… it's okay…"

The two girls jerked when they heard the sane voice of Haruto.

"It's better… this way…" the now lucid Haruto pant and gasp. "I don't want… to hurt… anyone again…"

"Interesting."

That comment earned L-Elf an angry glare from everyone but A-Drei. "This makes the fourth episode in three hours. It's almost like a withdrawal reaction. My guess is, you need to… 'feed' periodically in order to prevent these episodes. It's pretty similar when you are fatally injured, this episode was triggered as some sort of a defense mechanism… like your survival instinct went haywire and boosted to the very limits."

"Shut up!" Haruto roared. "Whose fault was it that I'm like this!?"

"Let's not go there again, shall we? In fact, I think I owe you my compliments, Tokishima Haruto."

"Compliments!?"

"Yes." L-Elf smirked. "The splendid and direct way you resolved your situation with Shashinami Shoko… I never thought you had it in you. I may have been wrong about you, Tokishima Haruto. You may not be so naïve after all…"

"We'll see how smug you are when I asked them to unhook me and I feed on you!" Haruto, still partially under effect of his curse, roared ferociously. Conversely, L-Elf looked like he enjoyed this refreshing bloodthirst directed at him.

But then, a cup flew from outside the cell straight to L-Elf's head, hitting him pretty hard, attracting everyone's attention. The thrower was Sakurai Aina, who showed her rarely occurring anger. "Y-YOU… Shut up!" She stuttered furiously. "D-D-Don't you listen to him, T-T-Tokishima-kun! B-b-because of him, Inuzuka-s-s-senpai had to spend time in the hospital!"

"That's right!" Saki followed. "Don't fall to his pace! Next thing you know, he'll force you to join Dorssia!"

L-Elf care not. That was never his intention and Dorssia can rot for all he cares. "By the way… Rukino Saki… Food for thought… how long have you been an immortal?"

"Why do you care?"

"It came to my attention because… I just realized… the two of you are transformed by the Valvrave but _you_ didn't suffer any episode at all… unlike Tokishima Haruto here. Is there something different about you besides the time of your transformation?"

"None of your damn concern." Or so she says… but what L-Elf said did have her thinking. It does strike her odd that Haruto appear to be in need to aggressively feed, whereas she hardly felt any impulse to bite on people. Was there something different with them?

"The machines…" for the first time in the longest time, A-Drei suddenly chose that time to speak. "You said the Valvrave changed them… Was there anything different between the red and green unit, L-Elf?"

Surprised that A-Drei chose to enter the conversation, L-Elf answered the best he could. "Last I check… Unit 01 posses some features that other Valvrave do not possess… and then… there's that weird… guidance program." L-Elf commented.

"Guidance program?" A-Drei frowned.

"Yes. Some AI I think… awkwardly, only unit 01 seems to have it." L-Elf remembered the time he checked the insides of unit 01, that girl-like guidance program is following his every move not unlike a living human being.

"Now that you mention it… I've only seen Unit-01 performed that 'harakiri blade'…"

Deciding to ignore this discussion between two dorssian soldiers, Haruto asked Aina the question that has been nagging his mind. "By the way… Aina… how is… Inuzuka-senpai doing? Is he alright? You said he's in hospital?"

"H-His leg was torn… but m-more importantly… h-h-he lost a lot of blood."

"Don't we have blood banks?" Saki asked.

"That's the problem." Aina smiled nervously. "As it turns out… Inuzuka-senpai has a rather rare O-Type blood. You know how O-type works… they can only accept the same type of blood. Inuzuka's O-type is an even rarer O-type… we're still looking if there's anyone with the same blood type… but…"

"But?" Saki pushed.

"The chances are small…" Aina grew more sorrowful. "He once said to me… that his blood type is so rare, you can get 200 yen per pint. He considers his own blood as a nice asset to be used whenever he needed some extra capital. He even think of sending L-Elf the bill for all his spent blood… it's quite a sum."

If the situation wasn't so dire, Haruto and Saki might snort. Haruto's best friend: Inuzuka Kyuma: Businessman to his very last breath.

"That's awkward…"

Again, L-Elf earned the death glare of everyone. "When I set up that booby trap, I designed it in such a way, he would've survived the blast."

"Well, you miscalculated you mr. Perfect Dorssian soldier sir!" Saki snapped.

A-Drei snorted.

"What so funny?" Saki growled.

"If we're talking about any other soldier other than L-Elf, then yes, Rukino Saki, I would be inclined to agree with you." A-Drei smirked. "But L-Elf… is not just any soldier. He never miscalculates. Perfect would be an understatement."

Saki growled. "Then, mind explaining why he ended up with a shredded leg and losing about half of his blood!?"

"Knock it off, both of you." Haruto murmured. "What's done, is done. What's important right now is what can we do to help him?"

Aina has no answer to that, neither did anyone in that room, obviously. But L-Elf has an answer. "Come now. We both know the answer to that, right, Tokishima Haruto?"

"L-Elf, ONE MORE WORD FROM YOU, and I'm gonna unhook myself and feed off you until you're all dried up!" Haruto roared. And L-Elf merely smiled calmly.

"Well… I better go back to the hospital." Aina made a motion to leave.

"By the way…" Once again, L-Elf earned the glare from everyone.

"What now!?" Saki snapped.

"What time is it?"

The three Jiorian looked at each other, and Aina answered: "It's 4 O'clock."

L-Elf smirked as he closed his eyes with ease. "Then… you have 6 hours."

"Until what?"

"Until your papier mache country falls."

It's official. L-Elf is now the most hated carbon based lifeform in the 100 yard radius.

**000000000000000**

Meanwhile, not far from the module…

A single Dorssian Walkit class heavy Space Cruiser had just meet with an entire fleet of such space ships, and right now, its commander, Colonel Cain is making contact with the commander of the Dorssian fleet in his command bridge.

Meanwhile, what's left of Cain's Karstein team: X-Ein, H-Neun and Q-Vier returned from their mission a disgraced team: losing most of their battle units was one thing, being forced to leave behind their team leader under the mercy of the enemy was even more so.

X-Ein and H-Neun in particular were beating himself up for this, while Q-Vier, being Q-Vier, had not a care in the world. They were told to wait just outside the commander's room. They can just about imagine that their commander, Colonel Cain, is receiving an earful right now for their mess. How can he not? One of his boys went AWOL, another one MIA. No burying it now, Cain HAD to report his progress to the HQ. They are less than pleased, obviously.

His aide, Kriemhild, a young woman with striking features and braided long hair walked out of the office with a very distressed look on her face.

"Officer Kriemhild! How'd it go?" H-Neun asked.

"What do you think?" Kriemhild snapped. "Central Command was furious that we allowed our elite unit being continually made fool of by a bunch of kids! We may lose this mission at this rate."

As soon as Kriemhild said that, the door to the commander's room was opened. Out came Cain. His face is as calm as ever, but beneath the cold exterior, belie a well restrained emotion. "Our orders are to retreat to a rear position. Commodore Manninger and his fleet will take charge of this mission. We are to take supportive role on the next mission."

"And what about A-Drei!? We can't just leave him behind in the hands of those monsters!" H-Neun protested.

"SILENCE!" Cain barked.

H-Neun and X-Ein took a step back.

"What's done is done. Learn from this mistake and improve. Only then will A-Drei's sacrifice means something." Cain glared at his crew to make his point. "And one more thing. Regarding this… immortal monster that A-Drei was blabbering about… you would be wise to keep this to yourself."

"With all due respect, Colonel. A-Drei is not the type of person who would make make-believe excuses to cover for his failure!" H-Neun retorted.

"Yet his failure is real enough." Cain once again ceases all argument short. "I say this again: keep this matter of immortal monster of the Module 77 to yourself. Keep spouting such nonsense will only make you liable to face the firing squad for demoralizing the army. Understood? Blitzendegen!"

"Blitzendegen." The squad reluctantly replied.

Cain left his squad to the capable hands of his deputy Kriemhild as he make his way back to his room. He sat on the table, thinking about the way A-Drei describe his assailant. Contrary to what his subordinates might think and what he said to them, they had no idea of how high he values this information that A-Drei gave him. Judging by the way A-Drei describes it, it can only mean one thing. "…I see… I see… so I see now… they had succeeded. Do you hear me, Prue? They had succeeded."

A green light inside a bird's cage set up on Cain's table trembled furiously upon hearing that comment.

**000000000000000**

In the Valvrave Cage…

Yusuke Otamaya was now starting to have second thoughts about the Valvraves. Especially after he learned what it can do, he made it a point to stay as far away from the cockpit as possible, leaving it to Dr. Kibukawa. They're currently working on Valvrave unit 3 (yellow) and 5 (blue) respectively.

Yusuke looked with worry as his teacher, Takumi Kibukawa has been inside Valvrave unit 05's cockpit for a while. Yusuke start imagining the worse. What if Kibukawa sensei walked out of the cockpit as something else? His mind began to play an image of a maniacal physics teacher of death with bolts through his head and stitches across his face armed with noxious test tubes rising from cockpit.

"YOSH! I'm done here!"

Yusuke jumped 3 feet upon hearing Kibukawa's shout. Erasing the last image of Kibukawa Frankenstein Physics Teacher of death from his head was the sight of a very normal, very human Prof. Kibukawa. Kibukawa looked at Yusuke's flustered look. "Hm? Something wrong?"

Yusuke looked at Kibukawa-sensei's features: no stitches, no screws through his head, human. He sighed in relief. "Nothing, nothing at all, Sensei."

Kibukawa smirked. "You're afraid I'll turn into some kind of monster like Haruto?"

"Eh… well…" Yusuke flabbergasted.

"Actually… when I was checking the cockpit, I pressed the on button and then that choice appears: do you want to renounce your humanity? Yes or No?"

Yusuke stopped flabbergasting and looked at their sensei… who's starting to emanate a bad vibe…

"And I answered…" Kibukawa smiled sadistically with his eyes covered in the menacing gleam of his glasses.

The sight seriously freaked Yusuke to no end.

"And I answered…" Kibukawa repeated.

Yusuke was on the verge of pissing himself in his pants.

"And I answered…" Kibukawa smiled. "…No."

"!?" Yusuke blinked several times.

Kibukawa smirked… before he laughed full force at Yusuke's expense. "BWAHAHAHAHAHA! DID YOU SEE THE LOOK ON YOUR FACES!? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Yusuke glowed red in anger and embarrassment. "Sensei! I was so worried for you!" He barked.

Kibukawa, still chuckling, patted Yusuke's head to thank him for his concern. "Ahahaha… sorry. But now you understand right?"

"Understand?"

"It's a choice. It's a matter of decisions. The system didn't force you to do things you don't want to. It's a decision that you can make on your own accord, to agree or not. That's human: the ability to choose yes or no is proof of one's own will. And I choose no."

Yusuke calmed down, somewhat… but he quickly gloomed again. "Haruto must've chosen yes… as did Saki-chan… are you saying they're not human, sensei?"

"No, Yusuke. What is needed for a human to make any choice at all, yes or no, is the heart to choose what they want. Whether to choose to stay human, or forsake it for whatever reason… both decisions take immense courage. Something that only a human being with a strong heart can muster."

Yusuke looked at Kibukawa and smiled. He got the message loud and clear: no matter what becomes of them, Haruto and Saki are human. If not in body, then in heart and soul. "I wish… I'm as strong as they are." He looked down with sorrow. "If it were me… I'm not sure if I can make that decision."

Kibukawa smiled gently. "You are strong, Yusuke-kun. You have strength of other kind. Dare I say, it is something that perhaps even Haruto or Saki doesn't have." Yusuke blushed as Kibukawa ruffled the boy's head. "Others may not see it now… I think even you haven't seen it either… but… eventually everyone will and so will you."

Yusuke's grinned as wide as possible. And with it, came his confidence. "YOSH! I'll go check up on unit-03's cockpit! I'm gonna turn that thing upside down inside out!"

Kibukawa laughed at Yusuke's newfound enthusiasm.

**000000000000000**

Sakurai Aina's eyes had long gone red from constantly crying. Inuzuka's condition grew worse and worse with every passing minute. Nanami sensei did everything in her power, but it's no use. It all boils down to one problem: they just don't have the equipment needed to save him.

And Aina beat herself up over two facts: he's at this state is because of her fault… and secondly, there's nothing she can do to save him.

"_Come now. We both know the answer to that, right, Tokishima Haruto?"_

L-Elf's comment echoed in her head, and suddenly, she realized the answer. 'The Valvrave!'

And moments later, she's already inside Haruto's red Valvrave. That's right… if Valvrave turned Haruto into a holy spirit, and she had seen how strong his regenerative properties… But just before she pressed the On button, she hesitate. She remembered how monstrous Haruto can become when he's like that… will… will Inuzuka-senpai turned into that too…? She faltered, but her finger accidentally pressed the On button, and the console lit up.

A fairy like girl with a very revealing dress appeared on the screen. Her hair tied in a green glowing bow tie that resembles Valvrave's head crest. The choice is before her again:

**Do you wish to resign as a human being? Yes or No?**

Aina gulped. "So this is it? This is what Haruto-kun and Saki-san faced?"

"_**Yes or no?"**_

Aina blinked. Did she misheard that?

"**Hurry up and pick! Yes or no! I'm so hungry for Runes!"**

No. She did not misheard… The girl in the console just spoke to her. "A… A… you can… speak?"

The Fairy Girl nodded. **"Course I can! I finally figured out how! Hey! Hey! Hurry up and pick yes! I'm starving and that Haruto haven't fed for a while! Is he fasting or something?"**

Aina blinked several times in awe and wonder. "Are you… Valvrave's… spirit… or something?"

"**Ummm? Well, I guess you can call me that."**

Aina momentarily forget about her plight and became entranced with this little fairy, the spirit of Valvrave. "M… my name is Sakurai Aina… what's your name?"

The fairy also became interested on Aina and she answered. **"Pino! My name is Pino! Nice to meet you!"**

Aina chuckled. "Nice to meet you too!"

"**Nee, nee, Aina! Yes or no?" **Pino quickly gestured at the option before her: **Do you wish to resign as a human being? Yes or No?**

Upon seeing that choice, Aina blinked and once again reminded of why she came here. "Anoo… Pino… I'm sorry to ask this out of the blue… but… are you the one who turned Haruto-kun and Rukino-san into Holy Spirits?"

"**Holy spirits? Oh, you mean turning them into Magius? No. The Valvrave did it."**

'Magius?' Aina shelved that question for later. "Uh… can this valvrave… turn Inuzuka-senpai into Holy Spirit as well?"

Pino cheerfully answered. **"Of course it can! He just needs to answer yes."** Pino pointed at the question window again.

"Then… will he be saved?"

"**Saved? Why would he be saved? What's wrong with him?"**

"Well… he's injured… badly… and we don't know how to save him… but… but I don't want him to die! Can you save him?"

"**Hmm… I see…"** Pino tilted her head up and down. **"Magius does possess superior regenerative powers compared to human… provided we have enough runes to do so. But… how bad is his injury… this Inuzuka Senpai of yours?"**

"Well… his leg was torn up badly…"

"**Just his leg? Ah. Piece of cake! That'll heal quick in a jiffy without a fuss!"**

"Really?" Aina's eyes trickled with tears of happiness.

Pino nodded happily. **"Just bring him here, put him in a Valvrave, and have him click 'yes' when asked the question, then he'll turn into a Magius and whoosh! He'll be as good as new!"**

Aina's smile vanished upon hearing that explanation. That's right. There's a price: you gave up your humanity.

"C… can the process be reversed?"

"**Huh? Why would you want to go back being human? Where's the fun in that?"**

And that was the final straw. After that last exchange, Aina walked out of cockpit, more conflicted than ever.

If she let Inuzuka-senpai as is, he'll die of his injuries.

But if she healed him by turning him into a Holy Spirit, he'll lose his humanity forever.

Aina wasn't sure how she managed to returned to Inuzuka's room, where various kinds of tubes and apparel are strapped to his comatose being. Aina collapsed right next to his bed, tears streaming down her eyes. "W… What should I do?"

**000000000000000**

Meanwhile, back in the cell…

It's been roughly five hours since Haruto's latest episode… and it seems Haruto had managed to calm down well enough, he hadn't had an attack since then. But he still kept himself tied up and right now, his head hung low, his bangs covering his eyes underneath the shade. And while anyone wouldn't be able to notice, Haruto was mumbling to himself in a voice beneath a whisper. Ignorant bystanders might mistake his mumbling for twitching lips. But if anyone were to listen closely: "Battle of Gettysburg, Battle of Poitier, battle of Normandy, Waterloo…" In fact, Haruto's eyes were twitching behind his eyelids.

Saki, unaware of this, had even began to stop worrying for Haruto, hoping his seizures is at an end… at least for today. To fill her time, Saki started to hum her song. "La,la, lalalala… for happy day… hm, hm, hmhmhmmm."

Upon hearing that, Haruto stopped twitching as he listen to Saki's humming.

However, A-Drei found it annoying. "Rukino Saki! Keep that racket down! Some of us are trying to think!"

Saki twitched and looked coldly at A-Drei. "Like I care what you think! Stupid Dorssian!"

"What-"

"You… SHUT UP." Haruto suddenly growled at A-Drei.

Everyone turned to Haruto.

"If you don't shut up…" Haruto raised his head, showing his face. "I'll bite your head off!" Much to their surprise, the red scar markings are showing on Haruto's face, fangs protruding from his mouth, and his eyes are gleaming red. The curse is active once again… and yet… he's sane (partially) and in control.

L-Elf gaped. "He's… controlling it?"

A-Drei looked at Haruto's state and smirked. "I'd like to see you try and bite me."

Haruto gritted his teeth and swing his tied arm forward, ripping the straps and a piece of the wall along with it. One of his hands is now free, much to A-Drei's horror. "Really, Dorssian? You want to try me now?" And A-drei shut his mouth.

"Haruto!" Saki clenched the bars dividing her cell and Haruto's tightly with her hands, as if wanting to tear that bar apart. "The curse…"

"In truth… I was about to have another seizure until about a few seconds ago… but then… I heard your voice… your song… and…" Haruto groaned as he struggled to fight of the curse. "it feels like… I feel… sane… when… Urgh…" He growled again. The curse is about to overtake him again.

Upon hearing that, Saki wastes no time asking question and starts humming the tone of her song before she began singing in full.

_Sometimes I forget my cell phone…_

Haruto's eyes jerked open.

_Sometimes I fought with boyfriend…_

His body stopped twitching

_Sometimes things just don't work out…!_

His breathings calmed down and steadied.

_Even then I eat yummy food…_

But the curse continues to try to claw its way to Haruto's soul…

_And spend time joking with my friends…_

But as he listens to Saki's beautiful voice, some strength entered his being, and he fights back all the fiercer.

_That's why we can all do our best every daaay…_

Saki kept singing, putting everything she had on this song…

_Good luck, for you, for you…_

The most important song in her life... in a battle for the soul of the most important person in her heart.

_For happy days_

And to her joy… she's winning.

_Bring peace for you, for you_

True enough, Haruto turned to her and smiled. The markings began to disappear and Haruto's red eyes had been reduced to a red hue.

_For you and me_

Saki didn't… wouldn't stop singing.

_That is how, I wish I could _

How can she? Why would she?

_Go from here…_

She's singing with all her heart to the love of her life.

_I know you are hero_

Saki joyfully looked at Haruto. And he looked back at her with that familiar heartfelt warmness that she loves, smiling, no longer under that curse. Their eyes meet, and Saki was certain of it now.

_In your life_

Yes. He's definitely not a monster. He's a hero. Her hero.

_I know I am hero_

And now she can be his too.

_In my life_

She'll always be his hero…

_Let's enjoy another day_

Forever…

_Of our live~es_

And after…

Haruto finally calmed down and the curse completely disappeared… for now.

"Haruto? Are you okay?"

Haruto nodded with a smile. "Hai… I'm… okay now… thank you."

Saki smiled lovingly at Haruto. "All the trouble we went through beating you down when we can just sing you out of it…"

"Ha, hahaha…" Haruto laughed. "It's not like I can ask people to sing for me every hour…"

Saki thought of doing something more… "You know… if you like…"

"Hm?"

"Whenever you felt like the curse is about to give… or… whenever you like to hear… just come to me… I'll sing for you as many times as you want." Saki turned around and blushed furiously at her boldness.

Haruto looked a bit stumped for a moment… but then he smiled. "Hai… I'm counting on you."

Just outside the prison, a certain brown haired girl with ribbons on her bangs winced as she eavesdropped on this particular conversation. She bit her lips before she ran off, holding back her tears.

Saki heard this and looked at Haruto. She couldn't help but to be on cloud nine. Finally. Something that only she can do for Haruto. Her Haruto. She smiled sweetly. "Hai! Leave it to me!"

So sweet in fact that Haruto gasped and blushed furiously. He never saw her with that expression. "T-Thank you… Rukino-san."

"Saki."

"Eh?"

"Stop calling me Rukino-san will you!? Call me Saki!" Saki moaned cutely.

"Eh? But… to call you by first name… I…" Haruto blushed furiously.

Saki chuckled. There it is. Now she's certain of it. Haruto's back. That innocent, overly naïve but unconditionally kind and warm albeit easily teased Tokishima Haruto is back. "It's okay! I allow it! You know I didn't let anyone to call me by my first name. Do you know why I let you?"

"Heh?"

"Because you are special! Get it? S. p. e. c. i. a. l." She winked cutely, earning another furious blush from Haruto. That was too much for Saki. Flustered Haruto is just too cute! She hid her own embarrassment with naughty laughter. "Hora! Call me Saki! S.A.K.I!"

Haruto overcome the shyness and tried his damndest to say the name. "S… Sa… Saki… san?"

"NOPE! Saki! Just Saki."

"Sa… ki… S…!" Haruto choked the name out.

"Louder."

"Saki…!?"

"Louder!" Saki placed a hand behind her ear to emphasize her point.

"Saki!"

"Add chan, please?"

"Saki…chan?" Haruto whispered the chan part under his breath.

"Louder!" God, she's having too much fun.

"Oi. You two lovebirds realized we're right here right?"

L-Elf HAD to come and ruin the mood.

The two were left blushing furiously, embarrassed out of their skull with the good atmosphere officially gone.

A-Drei shook his head. "You know L-Elf, when I saw how Tokishima Haruto being what he is; I thought I finally understand the reason for your choice of hands." A-Drei followed. "But in all honesty… entrusting your faith in these amateurs… I'm starting to seriously question your sanity."

L-Elf nodded. "You and me both."

Saki glared at the silver haired boy strapped on a gurney.

God. Help her. One of these days she's gonna let a berserk Haruto loose and let him bit their fucking heads off.

Suddenly, they heard the alarm sounded.

Haruto and Saki winced. Another attack. Just like Dorssia.

Outside, the students are rushing to their stations. Satomi yelled orders through the intercom. "Everyone! To your stations! Iori, come with me! We're going to the basement and release the Valvrave pilots. We're gonna need them."

"H-hai!" The Vice President gulped.

**000000000000000**

Outside, a whole fleet of 7 Dorssian Walkit class space cruiser are right at their door, along with Waffes in their hundreds, and dozens of Ideal Annihilators. The battleships were positioned in a three row formation. One ship at the front as vanguard, three ships at the middle, one at the center, the flagship, and two at the rear as support and backup.

The commander of the Flagship and the entire fleet, was Commodore Manninger, who had heard of Cain's failure. And what he thought about that was…

"Seriously, that Cain is a total idiot. How could he lose repeatedly to a bunch of kids?" said commodore was an aged man with noticeable sideburns and a mustache. His clothing is a highly decorated Dorssia commander suit.

"These kids possess some of the most powerful weapon ever made by men, sir." His aide, a short haired woman, responded nonchalantly.

"I know! But weapons are only as good as the people who use them!" the commodore smirked. "Attack!"

And the battleships began to open fire. The blasts hit the Module multiple times, causing massive damage with every shot. Some students were either get hit by a direct blast, crushed by the falling rubble, or blasted out of the airhole faster than the system can seal off the breach, screaming as they did.

One shot hits the hospital.

Pretty close to where Aina and Kyuuma were being held.

Another hit the hangar.

Right into the Valvrave Cage.

**000000000000000**

Down in the basement…

Satomi unlocked Haruto's cell whilst his deputy, Iori unlocked Saki's. Satomi winced when he saw one of Haruto's restraints was ripped off, clearly by sheer brute force. Iori quickly ran off behind the steel door as Saki walked out of her cage in her usual cold and aloof persona.

Haruto's eyes glared open and he undo the rest of his restraints, tearing them apart with inhuman strength. He looked at Satomi with glaring darkened eyes that unnerved him. "How many?"

"Several battleships. There are many." Satomi gulped. It felt like they just unleashed the bloodhound. A rumble can be heard from outside.

"Seven, to be exact." L-Elf nodded. "They've already starting to open fire, Renbokuji Satomi. How many of your comrades were killed by each shot, I wonder?"

Satomi gritted his teeth in anger and took a step forward, but Haruto stopped him.

"Leave him!" Haruto shook his head. "Come on! We have to get to the hangar!"

As they went towards the hangar, the situation grew worse and worse. The Dorssian fleet spared no mercy and employed trigger happy gunners. Haruto grew steadily angrier and angrier with each rumble he felt. Haruto and Saki part ways with Satomi midway as they rushed towards the Valvrave cage… but when they get there…

"Oh my God… what happened here…?"

The shot that landed on the cage had made a mess of the place, with rubbles floating everywhere. Half of the Valvrave hangar was buried in massive mass of rubble, along with the remaining Valvraves. The only ones visible were the red and green valvrave. But they were half buried under the collapsed ceiling, unable to sortie. Mangled bodies and blood droplets filed the air. One of them, much to Haruto's horror, he recognized as Toru Miyamichi, Yusuke's close friend.

"Those damn Dorssians!" Saki gritted her teeth.

Her comment brought some of the pit crew to consciousness, including Yusuke. Who watched with horrified eyes at the state of the hangar, and some his friends. "Toru…!" he floated to hold the mangled body of his friend in his hand. Tears streamed down his face, along with some snot. Kibukawa-sensei was nowhere to be found. Was he buried under the rubble? Yusuke don't know anymore, and the situation had spiraled down into hell as he cried hysterically.

In the command station, Shoko was already supervising the room when Satomi arrived. "How's the situation?"

"We suffered many damages on various parts of the module." One of the students reported.

"Why haven't the Valvrave sortie yet? Contact Rukino and Tokishima!"

"We just had a report… the hangar was shot and suffered catastrophic damage. Both Valvraves were unable to sortie!"

Satomi paled and gaped.

Meanwhile, the rumbling stopped.

"The Dorssian fleet stopped firing all the sudden."

**000000000000000**

Outside, true enough, the fleet stopped firing.

"Yosh. Hail them now."

**000000000000000**

The screens on the command center beeped multiple times.

"They're hailing us?" Satomi opened the channel. On the screen, there's a bunch of Dorssian guards, surrounding a person… whose head is enclosed in a bag. Shoko winced. She recognized that person.

"_Attention, Jior citizens aboard module 77. Attention. If you please direct your eyes to the screen."  
_

Everywhere around the Module, that same scene is being broadcasted. The same scene are shown in the Valvrave's console. Haruto's eyes widened when he saw that figure tied to the seat. He recognized him too. "It can't be… that's…"

"_Those early shots were to demonstrate our commitment to our goal. And now, we came to offer you a choice." _

The guards took off the man's face, and Haruto as well as Shoko's worst fears were realized: that was Prime Minister of JIOR… Shoko's father.

"_We arrested Prime Minister Ryuuji Shashinami for slander and lies. He announced JIOR neutrality, and yet he developed deadly weapons such as the Valvraves that you children had been using. As you can see, we have your prime minister as hostage… and what's more…" _The screen switched to a different view: they saw a multitude of people being forced on their knees, with a squad of Dorssian troopers aiming their gun at them.

Some of the students in the command center screeched in horror. "Papa! Mama!" "Oi! That's our family!"

To demonstrate this, one ship moved ahead of the other fleet, shielding the rest. Obviously, that ship was the one carrying most of the hostages, effectively using them as a shield._ "Aboard our ships' hold, we brought along your parents and relatives. And their lives… are now in our hands." _And suddenly, the Dorssian troopers opened fire at the first row of hostages, killing them all where they stand, shocking the audience to no end.

"Oi! THEY JUST OPENED FIRE!" "PAPA! MAMA! NOOOOOOOOO!" "Those cowardly Dorssian bastards!"

Saki gritted her teeth. Haruto gaped at the brutality played out in front of him. Are those Dorssian really human!?

Shoko became even more horrified.

"_We demand your surrender. Both the surrender of the Module and it entire occupants… and the surrender of the Advanced mechanized unit known as Valvraves. You have one hour. After half an hour, we'll kill half of the hostage to test your resolve and if it's still hold and you fail to comply after the time is up… then we will kill a hostage for every minute you made us wait. Remember. One hour."_

And the transmission was ended.

**000000000000000**

Meanwhile… in the hospital…

Aina managed to regain her consciousness. That blast rattled the whole hospital and knock her off her feet. She starts seeing rocks floating in the sky. Did the blast damage their artificial gravitational engine? She quickly gets up to speed with her surroundings. The floor is littered with rubbles; her vision's cracked… correction; that was her prescription glasses cracked. Arms, hurting but fine, body, in a piece, legs, injured but okay. Everything checks out…

She turned her gaze to her surrounding and caught a sight that made her heart stop.

Inuzuka is still on his bed… but a couple of sharp debris had punctured parts of his body, shredding some of his limbs as well. "INUZUKA-SENPAI!" Aina shrieked.

Aina quickly floated to his side, she looked at his worsening condition. Inuzuka panted and gasped. It doesn't take a doctor to know he's not gonna last a day. "Inuzuka-senpai! Inuzuka-senpai!"

"A… Aina…? Is that you? It's… dark… I can't see a thing…"

"No!" Aina screeched. "No! Don't die! Inuzuka-senpai! Don't give up! INUZUKA-SENPAI!"

Kyuuma choked blood. "Aina… it's okay."

"NO it's not!"

Aina looked at Inuzuka's condition… and she realized… now she had no choice. No way to go around it, the only way for him to survive is by bonding him with a valvrave. Turning him into… Holy Spirit. With that determination, Aina struggled to move the gurney carrying Kyuuma. Alas, said gurney was stuck and even in zero G, Aina doesn't have the strength to pull it out.

Just as Aina began to despair…

"OI! IS ANYBODY HERE!? IS THERE ANYONE STILL ALIVE!?"

Came the hoarse and loud roar of Yamada Raizo, who knocked some rubble out of his way as he finally arrived at the scene. Upon seeing Aina struggling to pull a still wounded Inuzuka. "W…What are you doing?"

"I'm taking Inuzuka-senpai to the Valvrave! The Valvrave will heal him!"

"The Valvrave? You mean those robots?" And then Yamada remembered the fact that all who pilot valvraves are now super humans. "The Valvrave… did that? That's what turned Haruto-aniki into that?" Putting two to two together and he understand what Aina was planning to do. "You'll… turn him something like Haruto… won't you?"

"Not something!" Aina continued to struggle. "A HOLY SPIRIT!"

"Holy spirit?" Raizo looked at Aina's futile struggle and smirked in admiration. 'This guy and that guy… heh.' Raizo made his decision and approached Aina. "Here, let me help you!" Raizo took over and used his strength to do that which Aina could not.

"Yamada-senpai… arigato!" Aina watched as Raizo made easier progress than she did.

"IT'S…" Raizo gritted his teeth as he was preparing to give one last pull…

"THUNDER!" With one load roar, he pulled the gurney out of the rubble.

**000000000000000**

Meanwhile, as the standoff between Module 77 and Dorssian fleet continues, a single ship break off its stealth camouflage and docked Module 77.

Led by the Karstein Agents, H-Neun, X-Ein and Q-Vier, bringing with them the whole squad of Dorssian elite. "Yosh! If everything goes right, we can rescue A-Drei!" X-Ein fixed his glasses.

"And L-Elf too right?" H-Neun commented.

"Maa… what a bother! Can't I just kill them all!?"

**000000000000000**

Meanwhile Shoko was following a panicking Satomi down to the brig.

"President! Calm down and think it over!"

"No time, Shashinami! Your father is also a hostage right there!"

"I know! Which is why we must be very calm and think of a plan!" Shoko herself was on the verge of crying.

"NO TIME! The safety of the school is at stake here!"

The two finally arrived at the brig where L-Elf and A-Drei were being interred. A couple of students armed with salvaged Dorssian rifles were guarding them at gun point, overseen by Takahi Ninomiya.

Satomi and Shoko looked at the two prisoners.

"Satomi? What are you doing here?" Takahi pondered.

Satomi pulled out a phone and show it to L-Elf and A-drei. "Beg your life to your Dorssian friends! We'll use you to negotiate with them!"

L-elf didn't budge, and A-Drei merely snorted.

"WHAT SO FUNNY!?" A panicked Satomi roared.

"If we did, we would be marked as kill on sight." A-Drei chuckled. "Dorssian Soldiers will never beg for their life. We would rather burn together with our enemies before we beg."

"That's how it is." L-Elf calmly smiled. "Besides… there's only one person who will make a contract with me. Tell Tokishima Haruto that my offer still stands. Accept my offer… and I will save everyone."

Satomi reached the zenith of his panic and he grabbed a rifle from one of the student guards, aiming it at L-Elf. But L-Elf didn't budge. Satomi's breathings grew more paced… his fingers trembled…

"ENOUGH!" Shoko move forward and shielded L-Elf. "That's enough, president!"

As if on cue, Shoko's phone rang.

"This ring tone… Haruto?"

L-Elf smiled in triumph.

"Haruto!" Shoko opened the phone. "Haruto are you okay!?"

**00000000**

Hangar…

"I'm fine. Listen, the Hangar was shot. Both of our Valvraves are buried. We can't sortie without getting them out first! Shoko… are you okay? Your father!"

"_I know…"_ Shoko tried hard to sound strong. _"Don't worry! My father will be okay! We're going to save him! Right!?"_

Haruto honestly don't know the answer to that. Without the Valvraves, things looked bleak. It'll take a genius to get out of this situation…

And as if they hadn't had enough trouble, another rumbling sounded. This time, it came from within the Module!

**000000000000000**

A missile just landed right on the field, very close to the school!

Nanami looked at where the missile came from and gaped. "Battleships on water!? Where did that come from? Those are Jior battleships!"

Aboard the battleship…

X-Ein smirked. "In the end they're just students. They can't even count their own armaments right." And then he took a loudspeaker and hailed the school through its intercom. "Dear people of JIOR!"

Yamada, still carrying the dying Inuzuka on his back together with Aina heard the broadcast. "'Dear' my ass! THIS AGAIN!?"

"That was but a warning. We have you surrounded, inside and outside. Drop your weapons and surrender."

H-Neun looked at X-Ein. "You're not gonna ask them to surrender their prisoners?"

"Why would I beg for something we can take freely when we won?"

**000000000000000**

Meanwhile, aboard Commodore Manninger's bridge…

"The Karlstein boys had infiltrated the module." His deputy reported.

"Huh. Seriously. Like taking a candy from a baby. Did Cain even know how to lead?" He looked at his deputy again. "How much time left?"

"20 minutes." She answered.

"20? Well… I was expecting they'll answer in 5… I guess they got some balls to wait."

**000000000000000**

"What to do? What to do now?" Satomi truly panicked now when the news of how they have enemy INSIDE the module reached his ears. "What can we do… what can we do…!?"

"_Shoko?"_ Haruto called.

"Yes?"

"_Is… is L-Elf there… by any chance?"_

Shoko looked at the silver haired boy on the gurney. "Yes."

"_Put me on a speaker."_

As soon as Shoko did that, L-Elf muttered. "Eight."

"_Excuse me?" _

"I can save you, save the hostages, even save Shashinami-Shoko's father, the Prime Minister of Jior… with only 8 lives lost." L-Elf declared.

Shoko blinked as she looked at L-Elf. Did he seriously mean that? He can save them all?

"_No."_ Haruto blared. _"I want you to save everyone without any sacrifices!"_

Shoko blinked… and out of gut feeling, she decided to pressed some buttons… contact Akira for some favors… which include broadcasting this conversation to the entire school. Everyone looked at their phone and watched the conversation occurring.

"A war is right in front of you, and you're still so naively sweet?" L-Elf muttered.

"_I'm fine being sweet. You're bitter. I'm sweet. Coffee taste better with sugar, no?"_

L-Elf had to hold back a chuckle.

Takahi quickly protested. "Wait a second, Haruto! You're not seriously asking him to make our battle plans right!? Don't sell your soul to the devil!"

"_Unless you forget, I've already gone and done that, both Saki and I."_ Haruto chuckled. _"Plus… I trust him."_

Everyone was a bit taken back, including L-Elf.

"You trust me?" L-Elf sighed. "After what I did to you?"

"_I'll trust that heart of yours."_

"Heart?" L-elf chuckled. "What makes you think I have a heart?"

Haruto shrugged. _"L-Elf…" _Haruto sighed as he dug down to his memories… specifically L-Elf's. _"…who's Lieselotte?"_

And for the first time, everyone noticed that it is now L-Elf who budged. His eyes blared open and looked at Haruto on Shoko's phone screen. A-Drei also reacted. "Lieselotte? Princess of Dorssian Royalty, Lieselotte?" A-Drei gave a questioning look at L-Elf.

"You… how did you know that name?" L-elf glared.

"_I was in your head, remember?"_ Haruto answered. _"I jacked you several times. Both times… your memories… your thoughts… your emotions… I felt them all as I walk in your shoes. And she figure prominently in your mind. And the fact I said the same thing she did about halfsies when you two first met… well… talk about coincidence. I know what you're trying to do, L-Elf. You wanted to turn this Module into a sanctuary. A safe haven for her. With us, the Valvrave Holy Spirits, as guardians."_

"You monster!"

"_Says the guy who asked for help from that monster."_

L-Elf went silent.

"_I have every reason to hate you. You ruined my life. Yet here I find myself trying to trust that side of you who knows how to love. I'll trust you… and you trust me… and I'll save everyone… my friends, their families! Everyone! I'll make a safe haven for everyone… for her also. And I'll be the guardian spirit that will protect them from all harm, just like what you wanted."_ To make his point, Haruto gave a V sign to the screen. The same V-sign L-Elf gave to him when he offered him the contract. _"Use me however you like, L-Elf! I can take it! I'm an immortal monster remember!? I don't care what you do to me as long as my friends are safe!"_

The students who heard all this from the intercom gasped in shock. This is the guy they've doubted all this time?

"_Use me too!"_ Saki suddenly entered the conversation. _"Haruto isn't the only immortal monster on board! You can use me too!"_

"And me!" Shoko suddenly added. "You tell us what to do, and we'll get it done, Heil-Elf!"

Takahi and Satomi gaped. "Shashinami… you serious!?"

"Yeah! I'm dead serious." Shoko smiled. "And so are they!" She showed her phone.

"TOKISHIMA! WE'RE WITH YOU!" "LET'S GO KICK SOME DORSSIAN ASS!" "WE'LL FGHT WITH YOU!" "TOKISHIMA-KUN! FORGIVE US!" "YOU'RE DEFINITELY OUR HERO!" Message after message of more or less the same line kept appearing on the network, coming from the classmates of the Sakimori high.

Haruto also saw this in shock and awe. "What… how…"

"Shashinami Shoko… you…!?" L-Elf frowned while Shoko grinned.

"I took a leaf out of you, Heil-Elf!" She showed L-Elf her phone. "I've broadcasted that conversation to entire school! Now they know what Haruto really are!" Shoko smirked in triumph. "He's a hero that will protect us all!"

"Shoko…" Haruto gasped and smiled wide in gratitude. He turned to L-Elf again. "How's it gonna be L-elf? For victory… for peace… for our dreams! Ready to walk with the devil?"

"Dreams?" L-Elf chuckled… as it steadily increase into a laugh. "Hu…hahahahaha!" And then he got up, all the straps that covered his body unstrapped on its own as if he was removing a blanket. "My goodness… your naivety is amazing. However… not asking for a sacrifice… with all Valvraves in such state… with so many hostages… don't go on asking the impossible, Tokishima Haruto. Even I have my limits."

**00000000**

Haruto gritted his teeth. "We're digging the two Valvraves as fast as we can, L-Elf!" In fact, after that broadcast, the pit crew redoubled their effort to unearth the Valvrave.

"_We're not going to make it, Tokishima Haruto. What's more, it seems you've let another Dorssia assault force entering your perimeter. Two valvrave is not enough to tackle this sitaution!"_

True. This is too much, even for L-Elf…

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!?" They suddenly heard a familiar loud roar, albeit mumbled.

"Yamada-kun?" Haruto gaped. "Yamada!?" He looked around but he couldn't find him anywhere. "Where are you?"

"That voice… HARUTO-ANIKI!?"

"Aniki?" Saki rolled her eyes.

"YAMADA-SAN!?" Haruto looked around… and then he realized Yamada's voice is coming from the rubble where the other valvraves were buried. "He's in there…?"

"What a voice he had." Saki blinked.

Haruto and Saki flew towards the pile of ruin. There's a small hole there, a man can barely fit… and they can barely see Yamada's face. "Yamada-san! What are you doing here?"

"We took a shortcut towards the Hangar… when we get here… we ended up on this dump!"

"We?"

"Yeah. I'm escorting… them." Yamada glumly motioned at the people behind him: Aina and a dying Inuzuka. Haruto skipped a beat. "Oh God… Inuzuka-senpai!"

"Haruto-kun!" Aina cried.

Haruto looked at Inuzuka's worsening condition, and how Aina was struggling to bring him to a nearby Valvrave… the blue one.

"Aina… if you do that… Inuzuka-senpai will…"

"I know." Aina nodded. "But I want to save him! Please! The Spirit of Valvrave told me we can save him using the Valvrave!"

"The Spirit of Valvrave?" Haruto blinked.

In short order…

Haruto turned on the console of the red Valvrave and Pino appeared on the screen. "…Pino? Is that your name?"

This time, Pino vocally responded.** "Uwaah! Haruto! You finally talked to me!"**

Saki winced. "E… Eh? What is this?"

"Pino… you told Aina that we can save Inuzuka-senpai with the Valvrave?"

Pino nodded. **"Because… she was so desperate… she seem to really like this Inuzuka."**

Haruto was a bit taken back. He looked at the small hole where Aina and Yamada were waiting for his decision. Haruto shook his head. He had no choice. "Alright… alright. But he's heavily wounded."

"**Huh? Aina said he's only wounded in his leg?"**

"It got worse along the way…"

"**Ummm…"** Pino rubbed her chin as she peeked at the hole that Haruto was looking at. **"Is there… a Valvrave in there? Alrighty. I'll transfer my core to that Valvrave, and see what I can do from there."**

"You can do that?"

"**Of course! All Valvrave are my children, after all!"** Pino quickly added. **"But whenever I do this… I'll always get really hungry! So don't forget to pig out on the Runes after, okay?"**

"Runes?" Haruto blinked.

As soon as she said that, Valvrave one suddenly went online. Its chest piece opened, its sphere-like core, the Rave Engine glowed with green energy. And then a gold, pink and green speck of light, that is Pino, flickered out of the sphere, fly around the air before it zoomed straight into the hole. Pino also disappeared from Valvrave's screen.

Within the rubble, Pino's light illuminated the dark crevice before she flew into Valvrave Unit 05. Said Valvrave went online, with Pino now showing up on the screen. **"Uwah! What is this? This child is pretty banged up!" **Her voice echoed from the Valvrave's loudspeaker.

That was a cue for Raizo that they needed a mechanic. And so he quickly roared. "OTAMAYA! YUSUKE OTAMAYA! ARE YOU THERE!? GET YER ASS IN HERE!"

Hearing his name being called out loud, Yusuke quickly flew towards the hole where Raizo's voice was coming from. The hole is too small for someone of Raizo's build… but for Yusuke, it's a perfect fit. He crawled in as Raizo pulled him in from the other side. Haruto handed him his tools and flashlight helmet.

Meanwhile, another call came from L-Elf.

"_Tokishima Haruto! We have 6 minutes and 40 seconds left before they kill half of the hostages! Make your decision, now!"_

"L-Elf… wait… there's a new development."

"_?"_

"We'll soon have **three** online Valvrave available to us."

**00000000**

L-Elf blinked, while the others shrugged, "Three?" Satomi gulped. "Where's the other one came from?"

"Inuzuka Kyuuma… is it?" L-Elf surmised.

"_Yes."_ Haruto nodded.

L-Elf smirked. "Tokishima Haruto… I take it back."

"_Eh?"_

"We'll do it your way. We'll save everyone, save the hostages, save the module… without a single sacrifice."

"_You just said it's impossible."_

"That was before you tell me we will have three online Valvrave soon." L-Elf nodded. "How soon can you get the Valvraves out of the rubble? Specifically unit 01?"

Haruto checked on the progress…

**00000000**

The pit crew roared: "On our honor, we'll do it in two!"

"2 Minutes."

**00000000**

"The hostages. We know they're inside the battleship, the question is… which ship?"

"What do you mean?" Shoko asked.

"There's a possibility that they did not kept civilians and the Leader of Jior on the same ship. They might've separated them… to keep up the leverage." L-Elf turned to Shoko. "Shashinami Shoko… contact your friend, Renbokuji Akira. She's a hacker of outstanding skill. They broadcast the video of the hostages; we need her to track the signal back to its source."

"Okay." But before Shoko could press the button a message came in from Akira. "Heh?" Shoko opened the mail, it says:

**Father on bridge. Hostage in the hull. Both on foremost ship.**

"That's what she says." Shoko smiled. "She's been watching…!"

True enough, ever since that horrid broadcast, Akira worked like a hacker possessed, cracking Dorssian firewalls and unscrambling encryptions.

"That's crazy!" A-Drei gasped. "Dorssian Firewall is impregnable! How did a civilian…!"

"My sister… is the no 1 Hacker in the world!" Satomi proudly declared.

"A lot more useful than you, Satomi Renbokuji." L-Elf remarked.

"Urp."

Haruto heard all this and followed. _"So we know both of the hostages are in the same ship. We have a chance to save both of them at the same time… how?"_

"Trojan horse, Tokishima Haruto." L-Elf remarked. "We'll send in the Valvrave as a token of surrender. Then we'll infiltrate the ship, and take it over from inside."

"They'll suspect a trap. Such an obvious plan…" A-Drei criticizes.

"This army is not led by Colonel Cain." L-Elf argued. "Putting top priority hostage together with cannon fodder hostage is not something Cain would do. I'll admit there's a risk but it's possible."

"_Wait…"_ Haruto commented. _"We don't have to send a team… just send one. One person to take over that ship."_

L-Elf chuckled. "Are you suggesting that you jacked me? Me, the infamous one man army who is wanted for treason? They'll shoot us down as soon as they did a facial scan!"

"_No they won't."_ Haruto remarked. _"Not if __**I**__ go."_

L-Elf quickly understood what Haruto was planning to do. Shoko protested. "NO! HARUTO! DON'T DO IT! YOU CAN'T FIGHT AGAINTS THE WHOLE SHIP!"

"_Haruto!?"_ Saki was equally terrified at this suggestion.

"_Who am I? I'm just a nobody who happens to be an immortal monster, and in control of the Valvrave. They know about the machine… what they don't know… is what becomes of the guy inside the Valvrave."_ Haruto smiled calmly.

L-Elf chuckled and laughed. "Hahahaha… as outrageous as ever… not so sweety naive after all are we?" L-Elf nodded. "But are you sure? Remember, when it starts, you can barely control yourself. What's the guarantee that you will not go ahead and kill everyone, including the hostage?"

"_Trust me."_ Haruto's answer was simple. _"You've seen it. I can control it… somewhat."_

L-Elf chuckled. "You really are starting to think like a Dorssian Soldier."

"_Shut up."_ Haruto doesn't take it as a compliment. Not one bit.

"That's a bit too far, L-elf." Suddenly, A-drei also got up from his gurney, all his restraints slid off automatically as they unlocked seamlessly. "He's still far from what I would call a true Dorssian soldier."

The student guards aimed their rifle at A-drei in shock, who paid it no heed.

"A-Drei… what are you going to do? If you're going to stop me-"

"I won't." A-Drei replied. "I have no idea what is your relationship with the princess. But I see now you haven't forgotten that aspiration we talked about. I'm going to watch you, L-Elf. You and… these… civilians you trusted. If for one second I found that they are wanting… I will not hesitate to bring all your little schemes to an end."

L-elf remained calm while all others were clearly unnerved. "Then sit tight and enjoy the show." He calmly replied. "I will not fail."

"_Alright, we're almost there."_ Came another transmission from Haruto. _"As soon as Pino's back, I'll sortie."_

"**Who's Pino?" **Shoko, Satomi and Takahi asked in a chorus… and ignored due to time constraints.

L-Elf quickly remembered. "One more thing. Your abilities as an immortal are something that must not come out on the public. We must find a way to jam the transmission and prevent any news of what will happen here to come to light. Can Renbokuji Akira do that?"

Another message came from Akira to Shoko's phone. "She said she could… but for remote hacking… she needs a powerful transmitter and on site receiver."

L-Elf contacted Haruto again. "Tokishima Haruto. What's the status on Valvrave unit 06? It's a purple colored unit."

**00000000**

"Unit 06? The purple one?" Haruto asked into the hole. "Is there a purple Valvrave in there?"

Yamada looked at the situation and found the said purple valvrave. Thank the Heavens… it's intact. "Yeah! It's in one piece!"

**00000000**

"Based on the schematics I read, Valvrave 06 is purposed for electronic warfare. It possesses a very powerful long range radio transmitter that can overwhelm any frequencies." L-elf reiterated.

"Hold your horses! You're not seriously asking Akira to ride a Valvrave are you?" Satomi protested.

"She doesn't have to. Even without a pilot, most of Valvrave's equipments are online. We can simply connect 06 to the WIRED network, hack the system to bypass pilot control, and hotwire it. We do have a mechanic on site."

**00000000**

"Yusuke?" Haruto asked.

"I'll be done with Valvrave 05 in 30 seconds! I'll work on the 06 in a jiffy!"

**00000000**

"What's the onsite receiver?" Shoko asked.

L-Elf answered: "Valvrave 01."

"Akira?"

Message came: **give me the signal strength spec.**

L-Elf mentioned some high sounding number: "50."

**50 Megabytes/sec… Not enough.**

"Let me finish: 50 **Exa**byte per **Micro**second." (AN: Megabyte: 1,000,000 byte, Exa: 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 byte)

It took a while for Akira to digest that ridiculous spec number… and then she sent a message.

**Can do.**

"What about the hijacked fleet in the module?" Takahi asked.

L-Elf seemingly ignored the question. 'ETA: 3 minutes… and counting…' "I have to go. We'll keep in contact with this." L-Elf pointed at his earpiece. "Report back to me as soon as Valvrave 04 and 05 is ready for sortie. And you…" He looked at Satomi. "Give them the call in 2 minutes time."

**000000000000000**

**Meanwhile… beneath the rubble…**

Yusuke managed to restore some of the systems in Valvrave 05 where Pino is now observing Inuzuka's condition, meanwhile, he began working . **"T… this is…"**

"Yes?" Aina's heart skipped a beat.

"**Aina… I don't see how he'll survive."**

"WHAT?" Aina gasped.

"**His injuries are too extensive. He's very weak! He will not survive the transformation into a Magius!"**

"B… But Haruto-kun and Rukino-san can do it!"

"**They were healthy when they transformed. But this one… is beyond help." **Pino mourned. **"If only he's a little bit better…"**

"No…" Aina collapsed on her knees.

"SOME HOLY SPIRIT YOU ARE!" Yamada roared angrily.

"**Even I have my limits! Don't ask me to do something impossible!"** Pino protested.

"Is… is there no other way?" Aina's eyes are flooded with tears. "Is there really nothing you can do?"

Pino looked at Aina with pity in her eyes. **"There's a way." **

"Hm?"

"**But… it will require a sacrifice… from you."**

"What?"

**000000000000000**

God knows what Pino and Aina were talking about in the caverns, but moments later, the shining speck of light that is Pino floated out of the hole and entered back into Valvrave one's RAVE Engine, where Haruto was ready and waiting. "How did it go?"

Pino frowned and smiled warmly. **"Hey… Haruto…"**

"Hm?"

"**Humans… are amazing aren't they?"**

"What?"

"**When they love someone… so much… they readily accept anything."**

"What do you mean? What happened?"

Suddenly, he heard banging from outside, and he saw Saki, her face wrecked with worry and horror. Haruto opened the cockpit hatch and Saki burst in, her eyes in tears. "Haruto! Don't go! Please don't go!"

"Saki!"

"Haruto please!" Saki cried. "I don't like this plan! There must be some other way!"

"There's no other way. You heard it."

"Then let me go with you!"

"Don't. We don't even know if you'll undergo the same process when you're fatally injured! Valvrave 01 is special… I'm special! Remember?"

"Haruto-!"

"Sssh!" Haruto stopped Saki by raising a fist. And then he handed her something… a long range mike with a powerful transmitter.

Haruto pointed at his ear, where an earphone is plugged inside. "If I'm going to do this right… I need you to back me up… I need you to sing to me. Can you do that?"

Saki's face cracked… and before he can say anything, she brought her head forward and engulfed his lips with hers. Her arms sling over at his back, pushing his head towards hers, deepening the kiss. Haruto was initially shocked, but in moments that felt like forever, he gave in and let his lips merged with hers as he closed his eyes. Saki's kiss was deep and desperate… as if this will be her last kiss with Haruto. In truth… they may well be. If she had her way, let her lips merged with his so that they'll be together forever.

Regrettably, they don't have forever. In seconds that felt like hours, Saki finally let go and looked at Haruto's face. She couldn't hold back her tears. "You'll come back! You hear me!? You'll come back!"

Haruto nodded. "I will. I promise."

**000000000000000**

1 minute to deadline…

Aboard the Dorssian Battleship carrying the hostage…

The soldiers on the hull aimed their rifles at the frightened hostage, getting ready to kill half of them as they said they would.

On the bridge, Prime Minister Ryuuji Shashinami growled. "You guys… I was wrong that I did not watch over my colonies a little better that they develop such weapon… but please let go of my citizens! When the world finds out about this-"

"SHUT UP! YOU LOWLY JIORIAN!" one of the guards kicked the minister in the face, sending him tumbling on the floor. He placed a dirty boot on his head, squeezing it. "Besides, we're just gonna kill a couple hundred Jiorians anyway… there's still a million more where you insects came from!" Everyone laughed sadistically.

The Prime Minister, Shoko's father, Ryuuji Shashinami gritted his teeth. 'Shoko… don't mind about me… save the people! Save your friends!'

One of the guard grabbed the man's head and point it towards the screen. "Now then. Let's watch your people die, like a good prime minister should!"

Ryuuji gritted his bloodied teeth.

30 seconds…

Suddenly…

"They're hailing the Commodore."

"Hng!?" the rowdy guard let go.

Commodore Manninger received the hail from Module 77. Satomi's face appeared on the screen.

"_A-Alright!"_ He stuttered._ "W-We surrender. B-But give us more time to prepare! W-We have a l-lot of wounded here… many of them were sealed shut in isolated places! We'll surrender, but give us more time."_

"No can do son." Manninger chuckled seeing the boy stuttered badly. This will be a piece of cake. "Surrender now, or we will blow your families to a bloody mush."

Again Satomi lose his cool… until Shoko took the com from him and continued from there. _"You do that and we will destroy the Red Valvrave!"_

"Excuse me?"

Shoko glared angrily at the screen. _"Look. You want the Module, because you want the Valvrave. And we want our family safe. So here's what we're going to do: the valvrave… for our family."  
_

"You realize we could just destroy the lot of you?"

"_Haven't you already underestimated us enough times? We don't want any more trouble. Lookie here… as a sign of good faith… we're sending a valvrave to you. One valvrave, completely unarmed, with one pilot inside. Here… see for yourself."_

Manninger looked and saw the kid was serious. Valvrave 01 launched out Module 77. A quick scan showed that all of its armaments had been disarmed… even the CIWS was empty. But Manninger grunted. "Girl, you think I was born yesterday!? I know there are more than one valvrave in there-"

"_You destroyed them all!"_ Shoko retorted.

"What!?"

"_Why do you think we haven't sortie all this time you were bombarding us, inside out?"_ Shoko barked. _"One of your shots blasted our hangar, and destroyed all but one valvrave! The one we're sending you, is the LAST Valvrave in the world! If you don't believe me, take a look! This is a live feed at our hangar!"_

Shoko clicked a button, and Akira, in her shack went to work, sending a doctored video of a hellish looking hangar, where all Valvrave have been completely obliterated… as in the green one. All this was further supported with floating body pieces and wounded pit crew. No sign of the blue, yellow, or purple valvraves. Then again Dorssian forces had no idea that there are more than two.

"_There! You believe me now?"_ Shoko retorted.

Manninger looked at the vid and he was already partially convinced. "And what about the Valvrave you're sending us? Does it contain an elite strike force that will annihilate my crew?"

"_We're students you dumbass!"_ Shoko balked_. "Where can we get something like that?"_

"I don't know. Before yesterday, we have no idea you had access to super robots."

"_You know what? If you don't believe me… contact the pilot. I'll give you his frequency."  
_

**000000000000000**

Meanwhile… with the Dorssian forces within the Dome…

X-Ein and H-Neun see the proceeding and suddenly realized what's happening as they recognized the red Valvrave. "Oh my God… They're sending in the Immortal Monster!" H-Neun gaped. "Contact Commodore Manninger! They're gonna get themselves slaughtered!"

However, try as they might, their communications were jammed. Not even Dorssian's secure channel can get through. "They're… jamming us?" X-Ein gawked. "How on earth did they do that? Our communication array is the strongest in the world!"

Clearly, the designer of that communication array never dealt with a communication hacking system called Valvrave Unit 06. Said Valvrave is now being connected to Module 77 system, specifically Akira's private system. And she was totally thrilled at how powerful the signal that Valvrave 06 are giving. The parameters' are through the roof! Akira was having the time of her life. It's truly is a Hacker's Christmas dream! "Shoko… when… over… can I keep it?" Akira texted Shoko.

Shoko laughed nervously. "We'll see about that…" She imagined Haruto and Akira's brother would have a thing or two to say about that…

"Confound it! Fire at the school! They must have a hacker in there!" X-Ein instructed.

"Oi, what about A-Drei?!"

"He'll prefer to die in the blaze of glory rather than being an obstacle! FIRE!"

Not on Akira's watch.

"Sir?" One of the Dorssian soldier swallowed a gulp as he gave the report. "Our whole system has crashed…"

The screen of every piece of computer inside the ship turned into the blue screen of death before they crashed… then they come back online… and the word: "FUCKOFF!" repeated over and over and over…

All electronic doors on the ship snapped shut, locking everyone inside.

"Oh crap…" H-Neun gulped while X-Ein frowned in deep thought.

While Q-vier, being Q-Vier, merely laughed manically.

But X-Ein hadn't lost yet. "Contact the ground team, we need to get that hacker, whoever that is, taken out!"

**000000000000000**

Back in space…

Manninger contacted the Valvrave, and he looked at the pilot wearing red suit. Some kid he didn't know. Thermal scan also shows there is indeed only one occupant on that Valvrave. Other scans that could penetrate even the most tightly knit camouflage also returned with the same result.

"And… who are you?"

"_My name is Tokishima Haruto. As you can see, I'm alone. I'll come aboard your vessel. Please don't kill anymore hostages until then."_

Manninger had thought they'll send in the traitor L-Elf, who was well known as a one man army… but seeing this one boy… alone… some nobody civilian… he had to hold back a laugh. "Pffffft…! Very well, come aboard, Mr. Tokishima. Contact the Potemkin. Tell them to be ready to receive a 'guest'."

The Dorssian Walkit battleship Potemkin approached the Valvrave and opened its docks as the Valvrave slowly made its way towards the gateway.

Manninger's aide was not convinced. "Is this wise, Commodore Manninger?"

"They sent a kid. A civilian kid inside the most powerful weapon in the world walking straight into our very hands! How dumb can they get? What have we to fear?"

**000000000000000**

L-Elf smirked as he ran across the Module. "They took the bait."

Just then… report came in from the hangar._ "Oi! L-Elf!" _It was Saki… and she's not happy. _"Carmilla's ready to go!"_

L-Elf further added. _"What is the status of Valvrave 05?"_

"It's…" as soon as Saki said that, the rubble that buried Valrave 03, 05, and 06 were blasted out, revealing a blue and black valvrave bearing a pair of massive yellow transparent shields on its shoulders. Inside, a pilot wearing a blue pilot suit with its visor darkened were sitting on the cockpit.

"…online." Saki reported.

"Good. It's all up to Renbokuji Akira and Tokishima Haruto now." Soon, he's nearing the hangar where they kept non Valvrave military equipment, and as expected, he met his first resistance from the Dorssain ground forces sent there by X-Ein. He rushed through the rain of bullets and killed two of them in an instant.

**000000000000000**

Slowly, Valvrave 01 landed on the docks of Potemkin.

As soon as the red Valvrave feet touched the ground and the gate was closed, Akira, all the way in her shack, went to work. Using the transmitter from Valvrave 06, she transmitted her special virus program wirelessly into Valvrave 01 systems. It should be a piece of cake now that she had cracked Dorssian system once… but then, she saw a complication. "Huh? HUH!?"

She texted Shoko furiously.

**000000000000000**

**SHOKO! BAD! FREQUENCY MISALIGNING! LOSING CONNECTION! VIRUS CANNOT TRANSMIT! **

"_That's what she says!"_ Shoko reported to L-Elf.

"Of course. They realized their communication frequency had been compromised and now they're changing its frequency. How soon can Renbokuji Akira realign and reconnect?" L-Elf salvaged an Assault rifle and headshot multiple soldiers in a row.

"_Akira-chan?"_

…**2 minutes. **

"Tokishima Haruto! You have to stall them for 2 minutes!" an explosion sounded when one of his booby trapped killed several Dorssian soldiers that was tasked to hunt down Akira.

**000000000000000**

Haruto gulped. 'Stall them!? How am I supposed to do that!?' Too late, the Valvrave had been surrounded by a whole army of armed soldiers and Waffes. He had no choice but to open the hatch and revealed himself.

Truth be told, every Dorssian soldier was curious as to know what sort of person who pilot this red valvrave. And then… when said pilot revealed himself… opening his helmet and showed his boyish face in all its glory, their first response is, understandably and inevitably…

…that of a ceremonious and thunderous laughter.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

L-Elf rolled his eyes upon hearing that laughter. With luck, that laughter will last 15 seconds or so, and time kept burning down nicely_. "Well, Tokishima Haruto definitely had a gift of being a laughing stock."_

"_Now that's not very nice."_ Shoko argued.

When the laughter died down, Haruto looked at all these guns aiming at him. And his response to that is… waving his hand and said: "Uh… hiya?"

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" there goes another burst of laughter that's gonna last a dozen seconds or so.

'Gifted. Definitely, gifted.' L-Elf concluded as he killed another pack of troops.

Meanwhile, Akira tapped her keyboard furiously, trying to meet the deadline with precious time Haruto was buying for her. But at the same time, she's having a problem of her own. With the frequency misaligning, she's losing control of the various systems she's blocking. One of them are the control for the Dorssian hijacked JIOR battleships inside the Module. Luckily she noticed this just in time. "SHOKO-CHAN!"

**Shoko. Battleship. Coming online. 30 seconds. Cannot stop. Communication block. Undone. Will work on that. Cannot block weaponry.**

L-Elf nodded. _"Tell the Valvraves to be ready to come out in 20 seconds!"_

"_Wait, if they come out now, Haruto's cover as the only Valvrave remaining will be blown!"_ Shoko protested. If that happens, they will not hesitate to destroy the Valvrave and they're back to square one… and worse.

"_And if Rukino Saki didn't come out before the battleships went online, X-Ein will blow the entire module to kingdom come! Rukino Saki, prepare to launch in 15 seconds!"_

Shoko gritted her teeth. Right now, all she can do is hope that Akira made it in time. "Akira-chan! Hurry up!"

"Shoko-chan!" Akira typed even faster. She almost got it…

**000000000000000**

In the Potemkin…

"Ahh… well… nice to meet you guys… I'm Haruto Tokishima… and… uh… well… I was hoping we can discuss this? You know… maybe find a solution by having it half and half?"

Some still laugh, but some had enough with this amusement. "And what makes you think we wanted to share with you lowly Jiorians?"

Haruto chuckled nervously. "Well… surely we can compromise. You got something we want, I have something you want. Is there no way we can… be all happy being halfsies and… compromise… so that both of us can be happy?"

One of the Dorssian soldier had enough and punched Haruto down to the ground before he put a foot on top of Haruto's head. "Listen well, you lower lifeform. You're all just worker insects. You are like a disposable tissue that we crumpled and throw away once we unloaded all our snot into it. Share? Halfsies? We'll take whatever we want from you until there's nothing left, rape your mother, kill your father, and if you so much as to say anything, we'll cut your fucking tongue out and rip out your balls off… if you got any. You feel me, you piece of shit?"

Haruto grunted with his face smeared to the floor.

**000000000000000**

Meanwhile, the situation continues to worsen inside the Module. X-ein had finally managed to regain full control of the ship's system. The first thing he did was to open a com to Manninger! "COMMODORE! YOU'RE WALKING INTO A TRAP! THEY HAVE AN IM-"

**0000000**

Precisely at that time, Akira finally managed to reconnect her transmission with that of the new Dorssian Frequency wavelength and hacked the system again. First thing she did was to cut off the com, cutting X-Ein right then and there.

**00000000**

"IM-?" Manninger blinked. "Im- what? Impotence? Immaturity? Impressionist?"

"I don't think so…" his aide shook her head.

**00000000**

X-Ein frowned in anger. Worse, his ground team didn't respond to his call. Judging by the decreasing number of thermal signatures he's getting, they're being wiped out wholesale, clearly by L-Elf, judging by the speed of which they are getting killed. This hacker of that Sakimori school… He/she is really good! "Destroy that bloody school! Prepare the missiles!"

And while Akira managed to block the communication again, she cannot stop the weapons being armed. Not in time.

**00000000**

L-Elf roared. _"Rukino Saki! Get in there and destroy those ships!"_

"_WAIT! WAIT UNTIL AKIRA-CHAN FINISH! YOU GOT TO GIVE THEM MORE TIME!"_ Shoko roared.

"_THERE'S NO MORE TIME!"_ L-Elf also lost his patience. _"IN 10 SECONDS THEY'LL FIRE!"_

"_I'M ASKING YOU, HEIL-ELF! JUST 10. MORE. SECONDS_!"

**00000000**

Akira had managed to reconnect the transmission, and now she's prepping the package… "And… send!" She pressed enter, and the virus is now being transmitted, from her computer, to the network, into Valvrave 06…. And finally to Pino, within Valvrave 01.

Pino received part of the package and tilted her head in interest. **"Humans really have nice toys! Okay! Let's play!" **And she activated the program. But the virus package was huge, it'll take time for it to completely activate. Regardless, Valvrave 01 suddenly went online with its eyes flashing, attracting everyone's attention. "Huh? What's this?"

**00000000**

Meanwhile, the battleships had armed their missiles.

"Missile ready sir!"

"Fire!"

The artillery missiles flew, and once again, they're headed towards land, and this time, it's heading straight towards the Sakimori High School.

"Oh shit!" The student shrieked. "They fired a missile here!" "NOOO!"

Suddenly, a hail of blue hardlight projectiles burst out of the sea, raining down upon the missiles, shooting them all down.

X-Ein blinked…

H-neun gaped in disbelief. "Where did that come from?"

"WHOO HOOOO! They blow everything up!" Q-Vier squealed happily (more like crazily).

Down at the bottom of the artificial sea, Valvrave 05 cocked its crossbow gun.

**00000000**

L-Elf was outraged as he saw this happening through the window. "Unit 05 WHAT are you doing? You're not supposed to be in there!" he vent his anger by barraging a supposedly ambush squad that appeared right out of the corner, killing them all without even looking at them.

**00000000**

X-Ein growled as he quickly understood where that blast came from and how. "I don't care how, find a line, we HAVE to contact Commodore Manninger! There's ANOTHER valvrave! And God knows how many more!"

**00000000**

At that time, Akira managed to regain remote control of the battleships… again.

**00000000**

And once again, that same officer is feeling a sense of déjà vu as he must report back to X-Ein that "…the system has… never mind."

The same routine: crash, blue screen of death, shut down… and a repeated word of: Fuckoff. Again and again and again…

X-Ein literally exploded due to stress, lost his cool, and roared as he kicked the useless rustbucket they call battleship. "MANUAL OVERRIDE! I've had enough of computers! We'll load the weapons by hand if we have to!"

Seeing the battleships had been rendered inert, Valvrave 05 swam away back into the depths of the artificial ocean.

**000000000000000**

Manninger is seriously confused out of his wits. "What the hell is going on in there?" After spending time trying to guess what Im- means, he resorted to contact the Karstein team to reiterate their report. Funnily enough… no matter how he tried, they can't get through. Their communications are being jammed. "Something's wrong… they're making a fool of us! Contact the Potemkin! HURRY!"

Fortunately for the New Jiorians, at about that time, Akira's virus program had been successfully downloaded and now Valvrave 01 is broadcasting it, full force, infecting the whole ship with it. Within seconds, Potemkin's system suffered a catastrophic crash and shutdown. Everything from weapons control, navigations, climate control, weapon system and more importantly the security camera. Potemkin went completely dark and offline, but the best part is: most of the crew didn't realize this until it was too late. The program that Akira inserted, through Valvrave 01, simulates an illusion to its crew as if they're still in control. But nothing can be further from the truth: the Walkit Heavy Space cruiser Potemkin is now under her complete control. Using its surveillance cameras she saw where are all the hostages, including Shoko's father, all the way up there on the bridge. First thing she did was to shut all doors heading towards the hull where the student's families were kept, sealing everyone inside. Then she also shut the door to the room that held Shoko's father, preventing the guards from moving him anywhere else or reinforcing the isolated guard. She also sealed off several rooms, trapping Dorssian soldiers inside.

Shoko's father smirked upon seeing the panic in his captor's faces as they were the first to realize that their ship no longer follow their commands. "Things not going according to plan?" not even a kick to his chest can erase his smile.

Akira grinned ear to ear as she texted Shoko.

**Ship's mine. Father top floor, bridge. Other hostage safe, secure in lower hull, can't do anything about the guards. But locked away most of them. **

Likewise, Shoko also grinned ear to ear to L-Elf from his phone.

L-elf found his breath again as his plans are getting back on track… at last. "Tokishima Haruto. Now."

**000000000000000**

Inside the now remotely hijacked Battleship Potemkin, Haruto grinned. He grunted and pushed the boot off his head. The soldier who stepped on his head glared at him. All soldiers aimed their rifle at him, even the Waffe is pointing its Gatling gun at Haruto.

Against all this firepower, Haruto pulled out… a handgun.

And now, every Dorssian soldier, who had yet to realize their predicament, concluded:

This guy ain't stupid.

He's just as crazy as a loon.

Haruto sighed exasperatedly. "Know… that I really tried to talk you guys out of this. I'm sorry." He cocked the gun, and a hundred guns are clicking aiming at his being. Haruto slowly lifted the handgun… and point it to his head.

**000000000000000**

Shoko knew what's coming as soon as she winced upon hearing the sound of gunshot. "Akira-chan… you… might wanna turn off the audio and close your eyes for a while?"

Akira did so, for she too knows what will soon happen. But not before she sent the feed to the command center for L-Elf's viewing on his phone, per his request.

**000000000000000**

The Dorssian soldiers now wondered what's the deal with this guy? He came here, riding a Valvrave… all just to shoot himself in the head right in front of them? Kids these days. They came in all sorts of craz-?

Haruto's body suddenly twitched.

Much to their horror, the kid with the half blown head rise up, red markings appeared on his face as his eyes turned red. And as he roared, fangs protruded out from his teeth. Red and gold energy burst out of his shattered head, keeping his broken flesh together. "GRAAAAAAAARGHH!" Haruto charged towards the Dorssian soldiers who opened fire.

Several dozen shots hit Haruto, ripping him apart in several parts, but wherever he incurred an injury, big or small, the red and gold energy leaked out and kept his shredded flesh together. Haruto jumped towards a hail of gunfire and his fangs finally landed on the flesh of his first prey. The first of many.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHH!" the soldiers screamed and shouted as he can feel his blood… and something else… was being drained out by this monster in human form. He screamed and screamed, screaming for help. "ARRRGGHHH! HELP ME! GOD! HELP ME! Help me… H~" His death rattle was followed with the sight of his eyes turned blank. When Haruto was done, he spit the man's neck of his bloodied mouth and most of his injuries had healed, having completely drained the man's life force to heal himself.

The Dorssian soldiers, the fearless Dorssian soldiers who is the exemplar of bravery and steadfastness is now on the verge of pissing themselves. So this is why they only send one guy.

Haruto turned towards the Dorssian soldiers and roared. More. He wants more. He hadn't feed on anything for hours. Now he's really HUNGRY! He… needs… to FEED!

Pino cheered: **"Yay!"**

Haruto rushed on all fours towards the Dorssian soldiers, who, completely scared out of their wits, opened fire in a futile attempt to push back the beast.

**000000000000000**

"Hoeeek!" Satomi couldn't stand it anymore and find a bucket so that he can vomit. They've agreed to this plan… but it didn't make the sight of Haruto feeding on Dorssian soldier while having his body being pierced by a rain of hot lead any less bizarre.

Shoko kept watching as the creature that was her beloved Haruto got his arm blown off by a hail of machine gun, but a burst of red and gold energy spill out and took over, creating an approximation of arm, and Haruto used that to rip the machine gun emplacement and its user to pieces. She bit her lips, straining her eyes, hoping that she will find a glimpse… just a tiny glimpse… of the remnants of Tokishima Haruto somewhere within this abomination.

A-Drei, and by extension, L-Elf, are the only ones who can watch this atrocious video feed without flinching. A-Drei had his brow knitted the whole time as he watched Haruto, engulfed in that red and gold energy, literally grabbed a Waffe and smashed it on top of about a dozen screaming Dorssian soldiers, squashing them into a blood stain on the floor. He then watched how Haruto ripped the cockpit of the Waffe, dragged the screaming pilot out and fed on him. "You're going to use this monster to bring revolution to Dorssia? I'm not convinced, L-elf. What makes you think you can control this… savagery?"

**0000000**

In the corridor…

L-Elf answered with a demonstration. As soon as Haruto finished feeding on the last Dorssian soldier in that dock, L-Elf attempted to contact him through his ear piece. "Tokishima Haruto. Tokishima Haruto!"

All he heard is growling and screaming.

L-Elf contacted_: "Rukino Saki. If you please."_

Down in the hangar aboard Carmilla, Saki turned on the mike. As soon as the first hum of her song reached Haruto's ears, one can visibly see the berserk vampire calms down significantly.

Enough that L-Elf's words can now reach his mind. "Tokishima Haruto?"

"_**L… Elf…"**_ Came his raspy reply.

"Walkit Class Space Cruiser has 5 floors. You are in the fourth, the hangar and the factory. Take the elevator to your left. It will take you to the 2nd floor, where the access elevator to the Bridge is located." L-Elf explained the inner workings of the Dorssian ship as he continue to wipe every Dorssian infiltration team in his way, walking pastwounded and killed students along the way.

"_Wait! Shouldn't Haruto go help the other hostages first?"_ Shoko interjected, prioritizing the family of her classmates over her own father.

L-Elf shook his head. "We take the bridge, we take over the ship. We take over the ship, we take over the hostage situation."

Haruto sanity returned well enough to allow him to perform basic human activity such as listening to conversation and understanding them. He did as L-Elf instructed and access the lift… but he can't move it. The whole battleship is still offline.

L-Elf called to Shoko. "Tell Renbokuji Akira to activate the elevator and take Tokishima Haruto-"

**0000000**

"-To the 2nd floor. Got it, Heil-Elf." Shoko made the call. "Akira!"

"_I admit it still needs a lot of work."_ L-Elf answered A-Drei's earlier question through the com. _"But at this rate, I believe we are getting there."_

A-Drei shrugged.

**00000000000000000**

The elevator suddenly came online and went up.

When the door slid open, he was welcomed by at least a dozen heavy machine gun emplacements and a hundred soldiers. Somehow, despite the offline communication system, word had got out of his rampage.

"FIRE!"

The burst of bullet ripped Haruto apart, but once again, the 'Holy Spirit' defense mechanism activates, and a berserk Haruto was once again engulfed in a red and gold light as he dashed on all fours towards the enemy, and the bloody process repeated itself.

**00000000000000000**

Meanwhile, Commodore Manninger is at the end of his patience. Both the infiltration team and Potemkin did not respond to his call. In his desperation, he finally ordered…

"That's enough! All forces! Open fire at the module!"

"Blitzendegen!"

All battleships aimed their cannons at the Dome like module and they opened fire, unleashing a hailstorm of cannon blast. The energy blast converge and formed a massive energy stream.

**00000000000000000**

"Valvrave 05, your turn."

**00000000000000000**

The Blue Valvrave finally sortie out of Module 77 and it was welcomed by a massive energy stream. It crossed its twin shell-like shields together and blocked the massive blast, dispersing it into tinier energy streams that completely avoid the module.

"W… WHAT!?" Manninger jaw dropped.

"Those were shots from the main cannons!"

The fleet began attacking the blue valvrave. But Valvrave 05 was designed specifically to endure sieges, a stark contrast with the previous lightweight Valvrave 01 and 04 who cover short to mid range combat. It was designed to receive plenty of punishment and send some back. Hundreds of missiles from the Ideal Annihilators, millions of shells from the Waffe, a rain of beam cannons, they all were blocked by Valvrave 05's impregnable shield. Once the attack is over, Valvrave 05 returned fire, launching multitudes of hardlight arrows to every direction. Dozens of waffes were destroyed in a single salvo.

"Valvrave's weakness is heat! Use the Boomerangs!" Ideals carrying the Boomerang launcher moved forward. But they are forgetting one thing. They were designed to deal with Valvrave and Carmilla, who are both close combat units, hence the short range of the Launcher was not an issue. Problem is, Valvrave 05 completely outrange the launcher by a huge margin, designed specifically for long range engagements. A hail of hardlight arrows sniped the launchers and the Ideals that were carrying them at extreme long range, shooting them all down before they can even get close.

But one Ideal managed to get close from Valvrave 05's back, noticing a weakness in its unprotected rear. "HAH! Your back is more open than your mother's groin!" The Dorssian pilot was sure he's getting the jump on the long range Valvrave. Much to his surprise, the shields of the Valvrave moved independently from the main body, and folded back, as if it was having a will of its own (and a pair of eyes at the back of its head), shielded the initially exposed rear area of the Valvrave. The Ideal collided with the shield and pulverized itself against the said shield while pushing the caught off guard but otherwise unscathed Valvrave 05.

The main body quickly turned around and unleashed another hail of hardlight arrows that reduced the Annihilator to pincushion. But not before the pilot angrily unleashed his boomerang launcher. Hundreds of electromagnetic boomerangs strapped allover the Valvrave's body.

Seeing this, other Ideals and Waffes approached 05, thinking that this is it. In other cases, being strapped with boomerangs half that number was more than enough to stop unit 01 and 04 cold.

They got another thing coming.

05 can still move even with that much restraint and even opened fire at the incoming Dorssian forces, much to their shock. In its console, its temperature only rise to the range of 55-60. A stark contrast with the other valvrave who would've hit 80-85 by now, 05 possessed longer operational time and tougher endurance.

"That thing's a tank!" A dorssian pilot gasped as his Waffe was ripped apart within seconds, even with his shield on.

**0000000000000000**

Meanwhile, as 05 defend its position against the entire Dorssain fleet single handedly, Commodore Manninger railed and raged in his bridge.

"T… Those damn kids! So they have another Valvrave in there! I KNEW IT!"

"If you knew it why did you believed them?" The aide stated the obvious.

"Eeei! Contact Potemkin! Kill all the hostages!"

"Communications are down sir! We're still being jammed!"

Manninger's temper reached an all time high. "THAT'S IT! DESTROY THE POTEMKIN! I DON'T NEED A SHIP THAT WON'T OBEY ME!"

**0000000000000000**

All this is exactly as L-Elf had predicted. "05, they're targeting the Hostage Cruiser. Protect it. Tokishima Haruto needs more time. 04, prepare to launch!" He's nearing the hangar, and the Dorssian infiltration team is starting to run out of soldiers.

**0000000000000000**

Outside, 05 had just finished destroying the last Ideal that carries the boomerang launcher before confirming the new order with a gleam of its eyes and then it moved towards the Potemkin, protecting it from enemy fire with its shield. However, the pilot looked at the thermal gauge and saw it's already reaching the 97-98 range. It doesn't have much time left.

**0000000000000000**

Meanwhile… back in the Valvrave Cage…

Help came for the Pit Crew in form of every member of the Sakimori Athletic Club – most of them are Raizo's underlings.

"YOOSH! ALL YOU BASTARDS! HELP ME UNEARTH THIS YELLOW ONE! IT'S GONNA BE MINE ONE DAY!" Raizo pointed at unit 03 which, despite being partially buried under the rubble, were mostly intact.

The excavation process went faster with the help of extra hand… but then they found a hand sticking out of the rubble. "Hey! There's someone here!"

They dug the hand out… and found, to Yusuke's horror, it was Kibukawa-sensei, severely wounded. "Sensei!"

**0000000000000000**

Meanwhile, back to the hijacked fleet…

It's slow, but they finally managed to get the battleship under their control again. X-Ein had had enough. "Aim the missiles at the school. And you better get it right this time!"

"Sir, without the computer targeting system, we have to do this the old fashioned way."

"Do it then."

The old fashioned way is by firing an unguided missile at preset coordinates. That is to say the missile can't track the targets and fire at pin point accuracy. They have to input the coordinates, test fire, and see where it lands, and then repeat until they get the coordinates right. Downside… it'll take some time before they can blow the school sky high. On the upside: the Hacker can't hack into this one.

Nanami squealed when a missile missed the school by several miles. "Uhh… somebody… tell command center that we're getting fired again!?"

**0000000000000000**

**Shoko. Battleship firing. Cannot stop. Manual override.**

"Heil-Elf!"

**00000000**

L-Elf nodded. "04. Your turn." He quickly made his preparations as well. "05, rendezvous with 04, now!"

**0000000000000000**

Down in the hangar, Saki heard the order and sortie.

She didn't realize that Carmilla was letting out weird noises from its frame.

Meanwhile, the athletic club team had finally managed to get Kibukawa-sensei out of the rubble. He was gravely injured, but he's still breathing, much to Yusuke's relief.

**00000000**

Once outside, Carmilla grabbed the Spindle Knuckles just as 05 stopped right next to it.

"_Target area 2078 with the Spindle Knuckle. Don't skimp on the power."_

Charging all the hard light into the chakram-like weapons, Carmilla throw it at the designated target. When the two spinning wheels burst through the shell, burst of water that quickly turned into ice showered the two units. Unit 05 were cooled down and the water washed away all of the stuck Electromagnetic Boomerang. The Thermal Gauge decreases to 63-65 range.

Inside the module…

"W… WHAT NOW!?" H-Neun yelled.

The water was that of the Module's Artificial Ocean water. This caused the sea to become instantly turbulent, as if there's a powerful storm coming, rocking and tossing the ships up and about, left and right, completely messing up their targeting. There's no way they can operate like this.

X-Ein gritted his teeth, their operation had failed. "That's enough! We're retreating!"

**0000000000000000**

Outside, 05 had enough of cooling down, and now it's going back to protecting the Potemkin.

"I'll help you out." But before Saki can do so… electricity suddenly coruscates allover Carmilla's being. Warning signs appeared allover her console, denoting and repeating the word: Malfunction. "Eh?" Saki shook her controllers several times. "Oh you gotta be kidding me!?"

Carmilla stopped mid air, completely still. Its head crest flashes on and off.

**0000000000000000**

"What's wrong with Carmilla now!?" Shoko gasped.

Everyone can see that the green valvrave is unable to move anywhere, completely sitting ducks right in space, with electricity jumping up and down its frame.

**0000000000000000**

In the hangar, L-Elf saw this as well. "The blast into the Valvrave cage earlier… it damaged its systems?"

**0000000000000000**

Unfortunately, Manninger saw this as well. "Fire at that green Valvrave! It's looks like she's broken!"

And the whole fleet now concentrated their fire power at Carmilla.

05 quickly moved in and protected her. But in doing so, it neglected its duty to cover Potemkin. Some shots landed on the said ship, much to everyone's horror. Luckily most of the weapons made by Dorssia are plenty tough. But it won't last long against a barrage of this scale.

Saki gritted her teeth. "Why… Why am I only getting in the way!?"

**0000000000000000**

Yusuke saw Carmilla didn't move an inch. He quickly recognized a system malfunction when he sees one.

She needs a mechanic! Now! But there's no way they can send a normal mechanic right in the middle of that rain of fire! He need something… something big… tough… and… and… Yusuke looked at the yellow Valvrave. He spent all morning disassembling that thing inside out. He knew what it can do… besides vaporizing and breaking stuff.

Meanwhile, Yamada had just finished suiting up and was getting ready to board Valvrave 03. "Yosh! Minna! Just watch! I'm gonna beat the shit out of…"

"THUNDER-SENPAI! SORRY!" As if possessed, Yusuke grabbed a baseball bat and beat Raizo's head, knocking him out silly. The members of the Athletic club roared in anger upon seeing their boss getting beat, but Yusuke nimbly climbed the unearthed Valvrave 03 and went down its cockpit, and closed the hatch. "OI! WHAT ARE YOU DOING! OII!" They shout and yelled, but Yusuke pay no heed.

Yusuke looked at the console and turned it on… and beheld the fateful question:

**Do you wish to resign as a human being? Yes or No?**

Yusuke at first felt compelled to press Yes… but then he paused and remembered the consequences of pressing. A lifetime consequences that he will never be able to let go. As he reached the peak of his doubt, he's starting to panic, until he looked at Kibukawa-sensei's broken body lying on the ground. And then he remembered.

"_It's a choice. It's a matter of decisions. The system didn't force you to do things you don't want to. It's a decision that you can make on your own accord, to agree or not. That's human: the ability to choose yes or no is proof of one's own will. What is needed for a human to make any choice at all, yes or no, is the heart to choose what they want. Whether to choose to stay human, or forsake it for whatever reason… both decisions take immense courage. Something that only a human being with a strong heart can muster. You are strong, Yusuke-kun. You have strength of other kind. Dare I say, it is something that perhaps even Haruto or Saki doesn't have… Others may not see it now… I think even you haven't seen it either… but… eventually everyone will, and so will you."_

Yusuke closed his eyes and renewed his resolve. "That's right. Sorry, Yamada-san… but this is something only I can do." And he pressed yes.

The injector extended and sting him on the neck. Yusuke gasped as he can feel something surged throughout his body.

The white parts of Valvrave 03 turned black, a sign that the Valvrave had successfully bonded with its new owner. The gigantic machine rise up, its enlarged arms, mounted on its backpack, shook the remaining rubble off its massive broad shoulders.

The Valvrave walked out of the rubble and into the catapult, much to the shock and awe of everyone. Raizo woke up just in time to see the Valvrave launched right in front of his nose. "O~OOII!"

**0000000000000000**

Valvrave 03 burst out of the Module heading straight towards the malfunctioning Carmilla.

"ANOTHER ONE!?" an overly stressed Manninger made a mental note to see his nerve doctor if he ever get out of this.

**00000000**

The students in the command center gaped when the icon of Valvrave 03 were added to the list of online Valvraves. "Who pilots it?" Satomi gaped.

They opened the screen and behold: "YUSUKE?"

The bespectacled boy chuckled. "Sorry! I'm here to help… and I'm kinda desperate and all… and… ahahahaha…"

**00000000**

Valvrave 03 landed right next to Carmilla. "Okay…" Yusuke flexed his fingers. "Saki-chan! This might tickle a little bit…" 03's massive shoulder mounted arms, the Armstronger split into 8 smaller hands. Using the lithe and small fingers of the said arm, Yusuke began to tinker at Carmilla's frame. This is just like when he disassembles the Valvraves. Only, he can do it in super scale mode, and at much easier time as well. In fact it's almost like assembling an oversized real life plamo. "Now… if I managed the output of the blaster right, I can use it as a welding torch and…"

**00000000**

Everyone, as in everyone, even the Dorssian army watched in awe as the Valvrave 03 began disassembling Carmilla… and fixing her ON the field with delicacy and accuracy that belies its massive built. L-Elf clearly didn't expect this. He read the specs of 03 were that of extreme combat and long range bombardment. It was clearly NOT designed for what it's doing right now: field repairs. Whoever the pilot… he improvised!? "05! Protect 03 and 04!"

**00000000**

That goes without saying and 05 moved in front of 03 and Carmilla. With its rock solid defenses, 05 ensured that Yusuke's work on Carmilla went undisturbed.

**0000000000000000**

As this went on, aboard the Potemkin…

Pino did say Haruto had to pig on the Runes… but…

"**Burp!"**

Pino closed her mouth. At this rate, she might have to go on a diet.

At the second floor, Haruto had finished off roughly half of the ship's 70 crew occupants. Now he needs to go up, right where the Prime Minister… Ryuuji Shahsinami, Shoko's father, was being kept. But the elevator won't budge. A constant humming from Saki made sure Haruto remained partially sane though. "Shoko?" He panted and gasped. "Need… pick up!" the rumbling is getting worse. Some parts of the ship had been critically damaged.

As if on cue, the elevator went online and Haruto board it.

**0000000000000000**

Meanwhile, back in Module 77…

Akira watched as the Dorssian's fleet is steadily damaging the ship. She needs to find a way to protect it… and then she checked the ship's record: 50 sets of Waffe. 1 set contains one manned Waffe, and 19 unmanned for support. Akira tapped her computers like crazy and start hacking. Normally it would be impossible… but with unit 06's powerful transmitter and 01 is still receiving and broadcasting the signal… it'll be like playing radio control.

Moments later, the Potemkin's entire stock of Waffe suddenly came online on its own, much to the horror of the hangar guardsmen, and they all swarmed out of the ship. The Waffes put together their shields creating walls that protect the Potemkin against incoming shots. Thus Akira managed to buy some more time.

**00000000**

In the command center, Shoko and Satomi received a hail… from the scared shitless captain of the Potemkin.

"_Hey! You there! Are you the one in charge!?"_ The captain was referring to the one who seem to keep her act together: Shashinami Shoko.

Shoko looked at her father and nodded as she put on her mask of professionalism. "Yes. I am. I'm Shashinami Shoko. Daughter of Ryuuji Shashinami, Prime Minister of JIOR!" She proudly declared.

Ryuuji couldn't help but to show his pride.

"He's your father?" The desperate captain smirked. "Then that makes it easier. Call back that… that monster of yours… or say goodbye to your daddy!"

Shoko frowned… and then she glared at the frightened captain. "Goodbye dad. Don't worry. Haruto will kill every one of them to avenge you."

The captain paled while Ryuuji laughed his brains out. "That's my daughter for you! Hahahahaha!"

"Are you crazy, woman! This is your father!"

"Precisely!" Shoko struggled to keep her stone cold disposition. She managed. "You guys invade my country, kidnap its people and you threaten the family of my classmates by holding them hostage. You even made a hostage out of MY father. My father, the head of JIOR! You're not an army. YOU'RE TERRORIST! WE, THE GOVERNMENT OF NEW JIOR, DO NOT. NEGOTIATE. WITH. TERRORISTS!" Shoko shrieked. Every student in the command room looked at Shashinami Shoko with awe. Truly. She's a born leader. Even the prideful Renbokuji had to finally admit… as far as leadership and people's skills go… Shashinami was not his match.

"You said it Shoko!" Ryuuji cheered her daughter on even as the terrified guards beat him down to shut him up.

As if on cue, the door leading to the bridge was dented from outside. Roars had reached their ears. Haruto is RIGHT outside.

Shoko faked a terrible smile. "You want to live?"

The captain turned to the screen and her devilish smile.

"You want to be spared?" Shoko pushed again. The captain nodded furiously. "Here's a hint. Kill my father and any of the hostage… and nothing will stop him from tearing you all apart." And Shoko turned off the transmission.

As soon as she did, Shoko collapsed on her knees, completely scared out of her wits. Scared for her father, scared for everything. Her mask crumbled and tears began to roll on her eyes as her teeth clattered.

To her surprise, she heard clapping sound. Everyone turned and saw it was… A-drei, applauding Shoko.

"What are you doing?" Shoko pant and gasped.

"Applauding your courage and dignity, Shashinami Shoko." A-drei nodded. "A leader is someone who leads. They must not allow themselves to be dictated by anyone else. That is the fundamental basis of leadership qualities."

**0000000000000000**

In the Potemkin's bridge, the door was opened, revealing an angry berserk Haruto, his body half blown to hell with red and gold rune energy bursting out of every wound and cranny. The terrified soldiers empty their clip at Haruto, but it was no use. The creature that was Haruto smashed at him and bit his neck, causing blood to splatter allover his face. Haruto jumped towards the two guards that are holding the Prime Minister. **"GROOOWWWLLL!" **His arms reached out ahead of him and grabbed their necks, pushing them down to the floor, bashing them again and again until they are close to death before he starts feeding on one of them, causing the said victim to jitter and twitch in obvious pain. "AAARGHH! AAAARGH! AARGGHa~" and he died as his eyes emptied.

Ryuuji looked at this abomination that was once his daughter's childhood friend as well as possible future son in law. 'T… this… is…'

After Haruto finished off the last guard, the only one left is the terrified captain.

"Stay back… stay back!" In panic, the captain unloaded a couple of shots at Haruto, scoring a few hits. But the monster kept walking, and the bullet holes were enclosed by red and gold energy that has been emanating from his being, and he still coming towards him.

The captain became desperate… and he finally aimed the gun to his own head, hoping for a quick release from this horror…

Click.

Click, click.

Out of ammo.

The captain cried and pissed himself as Haruto roared and rushed towards him.

"AAAAAAAAAAAARGGHH!"

And as Haruto devoured the captain's neck voraciously, Ryuuji whispered under his breath. "Shoichi… what have you turned our children into?"

**0000000000000000**

Outside, Yusuke put the last finishing touches on Carmilla as he put her back together. "Yosh! It's done!"

Saki is still supporting Haruto with her singing in the cockpit. But she no longer needs protection with Carmilla's mobility restored.

Unit 05 flew away and concentrated on its original duty: protecting the Potemkin. And just in time too. The last of Akira's remote controlled Waffe had just been destroyed.

"LET'S GOOO!" Yusuke roared as unit 03's Armstronger Cannon opened fire, taking out an Annihilator.

**0000000000000000**

On the Potemkin's bridge…

Haruto pant and gasp as the lifeless and completely drained captain of the Potemkin fell off his mouth. He turned and looked at the downed Ryuuji Shashinami.

Ryuuji can still see the red markings and red glow on Haruto's eyes, moments before it began to fade. "Shashinami-san…" Haruto finally returned back to the way he was. "It's been a while."

"Haruto-kun…" Ryuuji looked at Haruto. "Yes it has." He smiled.

Haruto smiled and then start pressing the buttons on the console with practiced hands. Draining the captain, and most of its crew, had given him an intimate understanding on the way this Dorssian Space cruiser works. "First… let's go tell Shoko you're okay."

Ryuuji nodded. But then he noticed something… "Umm… before that, Haruto-kun…!"

"Hm?"

"Put something on first."

Too little too late, the screens opened and the Module 77 Command Center are in full display, giving the students on the command center a clear view of the Potemkin's bridge…

As well as a full view of Haruto… whose clothes had all been blown away, thus he was standing in all his naked glory for everyone to see.

Shoko, Takahi, Iori, and every female student on the command center jawdropped, particularly at that part.

Monstrosity.

Indeed.

**0000000000000000**

Unit 05 continues to rain arrows using its Bolt Phalanx. More than offensive, it now served as a shield for the much more fragile Carmilla. As for the firepower department, it left that role to the newly arrived unit 03. An Ideal Annihilator pilot gaped when unit 03's massive armstronger arms spin like a drill, coated with yellow hardlight energy and it smashed into the machine's frame. The pilot escaped immediately, while 03's other Armstronger cannon split into four and start raining fire at the other forces, using the wrecked Annihilator as an impromptu shield. "Saki-chan! Ideal Annihilators are terrible on turns! Especially at close range!"

A manned Waffer was ripped in half by Carmilla's spindle knuckle. "Got it." Saki responded as she charged towards another Ideal. Using the multi leg propulsion system, unit 04 boosted at blinding speed, quickly flanking the Annihilator and sent her spinning wheel to its chest, ripping it apart. Just then, a transmission came from Haruto, much to her joy. "Haruto-kun!"

"Saki… are you alright? I was worried when I heard Carmilla malfunctioned." Haruto had already put on some clothes at that point, Dorssian white and gold clothes.

"Yes! Yes I'm okay!" Saki had a little bit difficulty maintaining her composure. He's alive. She couldn't believe it! He's very much alive!

"I've rescued the Prime Minister. I'm gonna go rescue the other hostages."

"_Tokishima Haruto! That won't be necessary." _Came L-Elf's interruption.

"L-Elf?"

"_You have the ship under our complete control. We also have access to its weapon system. We will use it to attack the remaining Dorssian fleet." _L-Elf reiterated. _"You, on the other hand, must charge to 666 for the Harakiri Blade and use it to destroy the rest of the fleet. Once that is done, the remaining crew which you haven't slaughtered will have no choice but to surrender."_

Haruto nodded, accepting L-Elf's logic. He looked at the still injured Prime Minister. "Will you be alright?"

"You do what you had to, Son. I'll stay here. This bridge is the safest place on this ship." Ryuuji sat his aged back on the captain's chair.

Haruto nodded and contacted Shoko. "Shoko, as soon as I left, tell Akira to seal all the doors leading to the bridge!"

"_Ok! Akira-chan!" _

As soon as she said that, all the doors leading to the bridge were sealed shut as soon as Haruto left the room.

**0000000000000000**

Things grew steadily worse for the Dorssian forces. Suddenly, the Heavy space cruiser Potemkin came online… and starts firing at its own allies, supporting the Valvraves.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY DOING!?" Manninger reached the zenith of his stress and tears off his own sideburns.

One space cruiser was caught off guard by this attack and was severely damaged.

The Valvraves concentrate on protecting the Potemkin, knowing the hostages are still inside. One red blur appeared out of the hangar bay of the Potemkin. 01 had entered the battle at last.

At the same time, a Splicer carrying a massive package set out from Module 77's hangar. It was L-Elf. "Tokishima Haruto! CATCH!" The package was launched towards the Valvrave 01. The package unraveled itself midflight as the Vurutoga, 01's entire Arsenal all combined into one massive weapon. 01 caught it and start open fire at the enemy fleet.

"Alright. Now to charge to 666…" Haruto groaned. His Valvrave is still in the range 45 to 50. It's quite cool. It'll take some time before it reached 666. "Oh no… we need to hurry the charging…"

"**You can if you use Runes!" **Pino suddenly came out.

"Runes?" Haruto blinked.

"**Hm! The information particle! Just channel all your runes into the Valvrave and it'll do the rest."**

"Uhh… how do you channel runes?"

"**Okay! For the banquet earlier, Pino will teach you a neat trick!"**

Saki's ears winced when she heard the familiar sound of Haruto screaming. He's having another seizure. "oh no… no, not now! Haruto! Haruto! Listen to my voice! Come on Haruto!"

Inside his cockpit, Haruto suffered the most violent seizure he ever had. He roared and growled as red glowing scars appeared on his face and fangs extended out. Even Saki's song was drowned by his screams and his mind was immediately drowned in primal bestial instincts without any chance for him to resist. A burst of red and gold energy emanates from his being. His eyes turned blood red… and suddenly, a retinal eye scanner sweep Haruto's eyes and the console went nuts. Amidst the emerging windows and the buzzing encryptions, it all ended as it showed one notice:

**Eldar Valvire Magius detected. Releasing limiter. **

The thermal gauge on the Valvrave 01 instantly turned from 100 to 666. The number also increased at a very rapid pace: 100, 200, 300, 400… all in a span of seconds.

"Like I'll let you use that attack!" X-Ein, having escaped Module 77 along with H-Neun and Q-Vier, together they boarded an Ideal Annihilator, with X-Ein as the main pilot, and now they're charging towards Valvrave 01, who's still in the process of gathering energy.

But at the last moment, L-Elf, having also foreseen this, used the Splicer on a kamikaze run at X-Ein's Ideal. The splicer smashed the Ideal's arm, knocking the Annihilator off course, and destroyed the Splicer, with l-Elf ejected at the last moment. "X-ein, the problem with you is that you're too straight forward." L-elf commented.

Q-Vier laughed. "L-ELF! YOU'RE AWESOME! WaAHAHAHAHAH!" H-neun squealed. "WHOAAA!" Whereas X-ein howled. "L-elf!" But there's nothing he can do, and the Annihilator spin out of control, away from the battlefield.

At the same time, Valvrave 01, protected by the other Valvraves and support fire from the Potemkin, finished charging. The whole Valvrave were bursting with gold and red energy. So bright, the black part of the Valvrave turned gold. The valvrave pulled both of its Z-Edges katana from the Vurutoga. Unlike the usual method where 01 only stabbed one sword, this time, it stabbed both swords into its exposed RAVE engine.

"Double Harakiri blade?" L-elf gaped,

As it did so, 01's green wing were engulfed in a massive amount of gold red energy, creating an approximation of what looked like… bird wings. It was so massive, it even momentarily dwarfed the Potemkin. Said energy wings flapped once and 01 flew above the theater of war, carrying its reassembled Vurutoga rifle. 01 aimed the Vurutoga, now also enveloped with that golden energy at the incoming Dorssian fleet.

Golden flakes of energy concentrated on the cannon and 01 pulled the trigger. Two massive streams of energy blasted out the barrel, spiraling together to create a massive energy blast 3 times the size of the normal Harakiri blade.

The blast completely engulfed the Dorssian fleet, vaporizing everything in its way. As the blast continues, 01's energy wing unraveled into tiny flakes of light as it rapidly decreases in size, the longer the Valvrave maintained the shot. Manninger didn't have the time to run before the blast reached him and obliterated his ship without a trace, along with everyone aboard.

Kain's ship, the one at the rearmost position throughout the engagement barely managed to avoid destruction thanks to the timely command of Kriemhild. Alas, it consumes another one of their ship along with it. "Mein Gott… what is that!?" But while Kriemhild was horrified, Kain looked at the golden light with entranced eyes. "Yes… that is the light of Runes…"

A while later, the light finally died down, leaving behind remnants of the blast… which strangely resemble raven feathers made of light…

**0000000000000000**

When Haruto regained consciousness, he was still in the cockpit of 01. As he readjusted to his surroundings, he can hear voices calling his name.

"Haruto! HARUTO!"

Haruto shook his head and noticed multiple window screens in front of him. He nodded to show he heard whoever called him, which in this occasion, was a tearful Saki. "The fleet?'

"Run away with their tail between their legs, Haruto! All thanks to you! That was AWESOME brotha!" Yusuke grinned.

There's… "Saki, Shoko, Yusuke-san… and… and… who is that piloting unit 05? You're not… Inuzuka-senpai… you're too small!" Haruto remembered Inuzuka Kyuuma's figure. He's a much bigger person than this guy.

The pilot of unit 05 chuckled… and then she opened her helmet revealing:

"AINA-CHAN!?" Haruto and Shoko gaped.

"Sakurai-san!?" Saki gaped.

Yusuke jawdropped.

"I thought… you were going to make Inuzuka-senpai…"

"This…"

Much to everyone's shock…

"…will require some explanation." Inuzuka Kyuuma's voice flowed out of Sakurai Aina's lips.

"Sakurai… san? Your voice is breaking…!" Saki blinked.

"No. It's Inuzuka. It's me. Inside Aina's body."

"E… EEEEEEEEERGHHH!?" Everyone jawdropped.

Inuzuka sighed. "Pino said that… I was too injured to undergo the transformation into a holy spirit. The damage was too severe. So Aina made some arrangements." Inuzuka frowned. "We trade bodies and mind. She was transformed into a holy spirit, and then she put my mind inside her body… and her mind inside my body."

Saki gasped. "Then… Sakurai-san… What happened to her!? She didn't…"

"**I'm right here, Rukino-san."**

Saki blinked when she heard Aina's voice coming from Inuzuka's screen.

Inuzuka gestured at the console of 05, and there, Sakurai Aina appeared on the console monitor. **"I've become the spirit of Valvrave. Just like Pino."**

"Where's your body, Senpai?" Haruto asked.

"In here." 05 gestured at the chest cavity where its Rave engine lies. "Rave Engine isn't just some power core. It seems it can also be used as some kind of a… a very sophisticated life support system. My body can be preserved here on this unit… kept my broken body alive… until we can fix it properly." Inuzuka explained. "Lord knows why they designed it that way."

Shoko then brought the most important question. _"So… what should we call you now? Sakurai Kyuuma? Inuzuka Aina?"_

Inuzuka blushed. Put it that way and it sounded like they were married or something. "Now, now… just call me-"

"**Inuzuka Aina has a nice ring to it."**

Inuzuka blinked and looked at Aina… she was blushing… furiously.

"**I… I don't mind."**

"A… Aina-chan…" Likewise, the newly christened 'Inuzuka Aina' also blushed furiously, mimicking the avatar on the console.

Awkwardly, seeing that they are identical, it doesn't look like lovers… more like twin sisters now.

"This is… gonna take some time to get used to…" Saki chuckled nervously. But then, she noticed Haruto was distracted over something else. "Haruto-kun?"

Haruto looked around, checking his sensors… it took almost forever… and then he found him.

01 set off and headed towards a certain coordinate.

And there he found… L-Elf, floating amidst the debris of the Splicer he used. "You had any idea what a pain it is to look for you? We promised there will be zero sacrifice, right?"

As 01 put L-elf in its palm, L-elf moaned. "It's exactly as I planned."

"?"

"I know you'll come looking for me. You're a monster… but your naivety is truly incurable… eh?"

"Told you. I'm okay being sweet." Haruto smiled. "And you're too bitter for your own good."

"Shut up…" L-Elf closed his eyes.

He may not say it, but it was obvious that even L-Elf was in need of total rest. After all… throughout their coms, it sounded like L-elf was on the run. He must've like… marathoned the whole module, killing Dorssian soldiers left and right and then ride a plane to deliver 01 its weapons before he kamikazed an Annihilator. And now that Haruto think about it… he's pretty dead tired as well.

And then, Haruto received a transmission… from the Potemkin.

It was Prime Minister Shashinami. _"Haruto-kun! Haruto-kun do you read?"_

"Shashinami-san?"

"I have wonderful news. The remaining Dorssian soldiers aboard the Potemkin surrendered. I'm with the hostages; they're releasing them right now. We're safe." Ryuuji turned and looked at the grateful and freed hostages. While some of the armed ones were arresting Dorssian soldiers, forcing them to put their hands in the air.

Haruto contacted the command center. "Shoko!"

"Haruto?"

"Your father's safe. Hostages secured. We're coming home." Haruto was pleased to see Shoko cried tears of happiness. "Spread the word."

Shoko nodded. She looked at Satomi. "You tell them. You're the student Council President."

Satomi considered the idea… but he finally relented with a smile to Shoko. "No. You tell them, Shashinami. You, the daughter of our Prime Minister… OUR leader."

Shoko blinked several times and finally accepted the offer. She pressed the intercom broadcast. "This is Shashinami Shoko…"

The students of Sakimori High looked at the intercom with held breath.

"_**Dorssian forces had been defeated and some retreated, the rest surrendered…"**_

Yamada punched his fist to the sky with a smirk…

"_**All Valvraves are present and accounted for…"**_

"Yes!" the pit crew toasted with one another…

And the most important bit:

"_**All hostages are safe."**_

Everyone gasped.

And Shoko added:

"**We won."**

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHOOOOOOOOOOOO! And the whole module exploded with cheer of all the surviving students. Some were hugging one another, some were jumping up and down, screaming until their throat burst.

**00000000**

Akira saw all this through her monitor and smiled. Until suddenly…

"And here I was wondering exactly who this 'Akira' who cracked our system is."

Akira turned around and saw, to her horror, A-Drei was peeking through the entrance of her shack.

"Never take you for a girl."

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHHH!" Once again falling into her anxiety attack, a panicking Akira tossed various things at A-drei's head: snacks, doll, pillow, mouse, keyboard, broken laptop, and finally a CPU chasing, effectively sending him away with a bruise on his head. Of course the thick headed A-Drei didn't understand a thing on what just happened.

"What… was that all about?"

**00000000**

One by one, the Valvrave landed back to the Module 77 hangar.

When Inuzuka Aina popped her head out of the cockpit, she grinned wide and cute as she sticks her tongue out. It was a very un-Aina-ish way, much to the original one's chargrin, and the horror of all of Aina's female friends.

When Yusuke popped out unit 03's cockpit, he was welcomed… by the sight of Kibukawa on intravenous drip, alive, albeit mounted on a gurney pushed by Nanami-sensei, giving a knowing smile and a weak thumbs up. Yusuke smiled back… until a baseball bat hit him in the head thrown by a pissed off Raizo Yamada. "YUSUKE! MAKE YOUR PEACE AND COME HERE RIGHT THIS INSTANT!" A grinning and happy Raizo cracked his knuckles.

The first thing Saki did after she jumped out of Carmilla's cockpit was to look for Haruto. Instead, she ran into Shoko. "Uhh… Shoko…"

"Rukino-san… Thank you for your hard work!"

"Ah… ahaha!" Saki smiled.

And then, finally, all eyes turned to the one most important figure.

Valvrave 01 flies back into the hangar with L-Elf in its hands, escorting a small shuttle. The shuttle landed first, and when the door opened, all of the hostages spill out. The students who found their relative burst into tears and rushed towards their family, calling out their names. "Papa! Mama!" "Big bro!" "Mama…!" Everyone was happy. And then one person stepped out of the shuttle. It was Ryuuji Shashinami. He looked around… and spotted her daughter.

Upon seeing her father, Shoko finally cracked and burst into tears. She couldn't say anything, something caught up in her throat and she ran towards her father, crying. Ryuuji caught her and hugged her tight, as if they hadn't meet like forever.

Saki felt happy for Shoko, but then she turned her eyes to the one she wants to see first. The one who had promised to return.

Valvrave 01 finally landed, and the cockpit opened… revealing a very tired but very happy, Tokishima Haruto.

And then, at the sight of Haruto, the cheer exploded again, doubly loud. Haruto found the sensation nostalgic. It's just like when the students first found out how he was the pilot of Valvrave 01 the first time, but this time, they cheered for their one true hero. The students' family also clapped their hands and some screamed until their throat sore.

But then, something rammed Haruto full force. It was Saki. Smiling sweetly as her eyes flooded with tears. "Saki… I heard it."

Saki smiled. "You heard it."

"Yeah. I heard your song."

Saki cried again. And then finally, unable to hold herself anymore, she grabbed Haruto's face, and without a care of the world, she passionately kissed him with everything she's got in front of everyone's shocked eyes. Haruto was momentarily caught off guard… but he finally closed his eyes and returned the kiss.

The silence of the shock was only a moment, and the crowd went nuts soon after and cheered. Yusuke cried manly tears of happiness for the new couple. Raizo laughed and then he start chanting: "Ha-ru-to! Ha-ru-to!" Before long, the chorus repeated and followed by everyone, all voices yelled Haruto's name at the top of their lung. The whole module screamed the name Haruto as every occupants watched the scene of Haruto kissing with Saki on the screens. **HARUTO! HARUTO! HARUTO!**

All voice but one.

As her father let her go, Shoko's eyes widened seeing the melded lips of Tokishima Haruto and Rukino Saki.

**0000000000000000**

**0000000000000000**

**0000000000000000**

For Raizo's fans, worry not. I haven't given up on him. It's not just the pilots that's changed… even the mecha will also underwent some changes. You'll see.

Besides… I want all Valvraves to follow some pattern. They're all based on mystical creatures that are demonic in nature… most of them are undead or have something to do with death. Here are patterns I'm using:

Valvrave 01 – Hito – Vampire and Yatagarasu, a three legged crow deity from Japan, and Valravn, Raven of the Slain, from Danish Folklore.

Valvrave 02 – Tekka – no concrete idea yet, but it'll be in the breath of Werewolves and Crusaders.

Valvrave 03 – Hikaminari – 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' and Frankenstein

Valvrave 04 – Hinowa - Succubus (or Siren) and Jourougumo (Spider bride)

Valvrave 05 – Hiuchiba – Egyptian myth (the whole preserving dead bodies for rebirth thing, you know, Mummies) and Scarabs

Valvrave 06 – Hiasobi – Witch, grim reaper, and bats

Valvrave 07 - ? – any ideas folks?

This is an interesting story. But it'll be pretty short. I think. Of course, each chapter will be long, so reading it will be satisfying. I hope.

Happy reading.


	3. VVV Project: Unveiling the World

**Massive Lemon scenes ahead. My first ever in Fanfiction – as well as a test if this gonna get this fic taken down or not. So unlike before, I actually put some thought into this. Yes, I'm that much of a pervert. This results in an extremely long chapter, and long reading.**

**0000000000000**

**Somewhere in the darkness…**

**A naked girl panted up and down… saliva trickling at the corners of her lips… tears trickling down her widened disbelieving eyes… as she lay naked on the cold dark floor… her body full of claw scars and bite marks… one of her exhausted legs were being stretched up as her body moved furiously back and forth across the floor, her violator won't be stopping anytime soon…**

**0000000000000000**

Log of Teacher Trainee, Nanami Rion:

_It's been days after the latest attack. Unlike the previous assaults with only hours in-between skirmishes, it seems, optimistically speaking, Dorssia had learnt their lesson not to mess with us._

_The mood that follows after that fierce battle was mixed. For one thing, there's happiness. We won many things. In particular, we managed to rescue the families of the students… well… most of them. We can't discount the fact that Dorssian troops managed to kill some of the hostages. What's more, not all family members of all students are accounted for. It seems they didn't bring everyone. This means either Dorssia still kept most of them somewhere, or at the worst case scenario, they've killed them all. However, the rescued hostages came from Dorssia's concentration camps, and they brought new of the situation in the Concentration Camps._

"It's terrible." One of them said. "Terrible I tell you. They don't treat us like human at all."

_However, we found, to our happiness, that some of the student's families are indeed still alive. Thus, there's a chance they might be able to see them again. So there's much hope to go around. _

_But… there's also sadness and a lot of sorrow. As there is news of a student's families who still alive in the Dorssian prison, there are also those who mourned when they found out that their relatives had died in captivity. Some of the freed hostages also grieved when they found out that their sons and daughters had died during Dorssian attacks. The field of graves made of rubble built behind our school was filled with cries and woes of the bereft parents for some time and it steadily grow with the number of people who died increases significantly after this latest Dorssian attack. Not to mentioned the injured. Kibukawa-sensei, for example. He lived… but, the rubble had all but crushed his body, and now he's forever confined to a wheelchair, with only one hand remain barely functional. He doesn't seem to mind though._

"Whaaat? So I can only move my hand, big deal! As long as my mouth works I can just tell you to do things for me, Nanami-chan!"

"Hueeeeh!?"

_But eventually, everyone moved on. Everyone had to. The world won't wait for them._

**0000000000000000**

**Holding on to the bars for dear life, she watched as he grabbed her supple breast and violently bites her nipples, earning a scream… meanwhile, she had lost count of time, not knowing, nor caring, how long have he's been doing this to her. She thought her womb is melting when that hot liquid poured in, again… **

**0000000000000000**

_The freed captive moved into the module, joining hands with the students and their families, rebuilding everything that Dorssia had torn down. Some rejoin their family and rebuild their homes. Others helped those who were bereft of their relatives, united in their separation with their respective loved ones. For a moment, there's a sense of familial unity that has not been felt for the longest time. The captives, not so surprisingly enough, were mostly doctors, construction workers, officer employees, gardeners, electrician… etc, etc. They're all civilian workers that have nothing to do with the military and shouldn't pose any threat. But with their help, the repair of the Module 77 has accelerated by a wide margin. The presence of Adults also brought something that has been lacking in this module. Discipline._

Yusuke, and his other otaku friends, watched in tears as angry mothers banded up together to wash that supersized ecchi picture on the street. "Bye-bye (sob) Riko-chan." Yusuke waved his last goodbye as the mothers finished mopping his masterpiece off the broken streets.

_Of course, the fact that Shashinami Ryuuji, the (former) Prime Minister of Jior is present also played a big part. He led the adults in the restoration of the module, overseeing the reconstruction progress personally. However, for some reason, he decided to stay off the affairs of the students of the Sakimori High, leaving the decisions to the Student Council President… and his daughter, Shashinami Shoko. _

_After the whole hostage crisis ended, Shashinami-chan had been busy. While she would deny it, she had taken the role of de-facto leader of the school, with Satomi acted in advisory capacity. Besides, most students would naturally follow her; such was her natural leadership skills, proven during the Hostage Crisis. But like her father, she loved doing hands on approach. From distributing snack, to finding someone's plamo among the rubble. But… at times… she looked like she was actually distracting herself with her work. As to what exactly she was distracting herself from… that's the bigger mystery. _

**0000000000000000**

**Her waist was carried up, and with a thrust, it pierced her deep. The girl shrieked in pain… her fingernails clawed the floor… and his nails sank into her flesh… she wanted to scream but her mouth was jammed with his. She whimpered and moaned as his waist continued to hammer up and down hers.**

**0000000000000000**

_Oh, speaking of work, Shoko-chan, with blessings and advises from her father, had recently talked with our Dorssian refugee, L-elf. It seems she finally agreed to put all his suggestion regarding state army to practice. Many of the students, after that broadcasted conversation with Haruto, had generally accepted L-Elf as indeed one of their own, and followed his necessarily hard training regime (running around the school 50 times, crawling on the floor for 2 kilometers, field-strip a rifle in 20 seconds… etc, etc). Mostly it was also because they've grown tired. Tired of having to lose someone they cared before their very eyes because they don't know how to defend themselves. Most of the time, he was seen with Shoko-chan and Satomi, giving her suggestions on how to better improve their defenses. One of his suggestions was:_

"Move all Valvraves to the Potemkin, including all facilities needed to maintain them. The next time the battle starts, we can keep the Module from being made targets, reducing the damage to civilian area to a minimum." That, everyone can easily agree to. But as for his second request: "I request that Renbokuji Akira's 'working station' to be moved aboard the Potemkin." That, one person in particular had something to say, hence why negotiation has been going back and forth for several days regarding this particular issue. And today…

"OUT OF THE QUESTION!" Satomi stood before the entrance to his sister's shack, impeding L-Elf. While Shoko stand between the two men as the middle woman. "Why should she be on board that floating monster of a ship?"

"That floating monster of a ship, Satomi Renbokuji, is one of your most important lines of defense, outside the Valvraves." L-Elf stated the obvious. "Walkit Heavy Cruiser is the main standby battleship of Dorssia, the pride of our space forces. Bristling with more than enough weapons, it is essentially a flying fortress with enough firepower to level a city. Unfortunately, it is also very hard to control, requiring enormous amount of trained officers to crew it. Officers that Tokishima Haruto had slaughtered almost to a man, with the survivors are imprisoned and would rather die than to help us."

Shoko frowned at L-Elf's stone cold, albeit acceptable, logic, especially with the way he portray Haruto as if he was some kind of a ruthless psychopath. But… then again… there's no denying that Haruto did KILL a lot of people in an extremely brutal way. So brutal, that Shoko asked Akira to erase all recordings and data pertaining to that incident. It's enough that only those in the command center who knew and swore silence under the threat of assassination by L-Elf. The rest of the students don't need to know more, leaving things to their imagination on how Tokishima Haruto single handedly took over a Dorssian Warship.

"This is where Renbokuji Akira comes in." L-Elf gestured at the hole that is the entrance of Akira's shack. Shoko accurately imagined Akira is currently balled up in fear inside that shack. "With her unparalleled skill in hacking, and using Valvrave 06's computational power, she can take control and manage most of the ship's system on her own, significantly reducing the amount of manpower needed to commandeer such cruiser, as she had proven in the previous battle." 

"I'd like to point out she did that while she's inside her shack." Satomi remained adamant.

"But there are several seconds delay between the time when she entered the commands and the commands being obeyed by the ship's auto pilot system. The lag could've cost us the battle and the war. By being directly aboard the ship, she can reduce the lag time to a null, enabling the ship to react even faster." L-Elf tilted his head as he narrowed his eyes into the hole. "And I believe she knows I'm right."

Akira crawled to a ball as she shook uncontrollably at the corner of her shack, watching the events unfolding right in front of her door through the widescreen. L-Elf looked at the camera, straight at her. _"Use your logic, Renbokuji Akira. Dorssian forces would soon notice that weakness and they will easily capitalize on that. A few second delays in command can be difference between victory and defeat." _Akira was unresponsive and fell further into panic.

L-Elf had enough and decided to take drastic steps. "If she will not comply, then I'm afraid I must force her compliance." He took a step forward and Satomi also stand ready.

"Over my dead body."

"Hai, hai! Heil-Elf!" Shoko stopped the heating argument… with a pair of bizarre colored cakes jammed to L-Elf's and Satomi's mouth.

Both looked at the middle woman questioningly. "Now… sorry Satomi… but I'm afraid Heil-Elf's right. We're gonna need that ship, and we're gonna need it in tip top condition. As for you, Heil-Elf, have you ever considered this terminology? WAIRU! W-A-I-R-U!"

"…?" L-Elf kept the weird cake dangling on his mouth as he looked questioningly at Shoko.

"Bribe! Rather than threatening her, let's give her something in return!" Shoko demonstrate this by crawling down the hole. "Heeey… Akira-chan? Akira-chaan!"

**0000000000000000**

**Moans and mumbles, grunts and growls mixed with the sound of flesh slapping flesh. Their bodies were sticky with various kinds of fluid, as do the floor beneath them. Mixed in that fluid are some red blood color, coming from trickles of blood from the girl's clawed body. Despite the obvious pain, it wasn't long until the girl's moans turned to screams of ecstasy… **

**0000000000000000**

Akira still balled in fear. But unlike with others, she didn't throw things at Shoko. But she was on the verge of crying… "Akira…" Shoko gently rubbed Akira, causing her to lift her head up. And that's when Shoko shoved something: a potato chip dipped in chili sauce. Akira blinked and blushed as she took a bite. "There! It's delicious right? Ah! You eat this biscuit too? They taste good when fried and eaten with pickles!"

"Really?" Satomi paled upon hearing that obscene combination. L-Elf rolled his eyes.

In her own way, Shoko made Akira calmed down considerably. Shoko continued: "Look. I hate to say it, but Heil-Elf is right. You can't stay here. You have to move! Besides, think of the new computers and CPUs you'll find in that ship."

"Actually, her handmade computer is more advanced than any our scientists had ever made." L-elf admitted as he removed and throw away that muck of a cake from his mouth. "Yesterday's event proved that. I hate to admit it, but we're bad at computers."

"Thank you, Heil-Elf, for ruining your own chance on winning your own case." Shoko shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"It's a fact."

Shoko bit her lips, thinking another thing that will interest Akira well enough to leave her shack. She got it. "Akira. Remember what you asked of me… about giving you that super hardware Valvrave that got you all excited?"

Satomi was about to protest but L-Elf grabbed his shoulder. Fact is, Shoko can actually see Akira's ears twitched and she stopped shivering.

"That valvrave is being moved into that ship. If you moved there too… you can play with that Valvrave, ANYWAY, anytime you like."

"SHASHINAMI!" This is what Satomi was afraid of. "You're not actually considering on having Akira pilot that thing!?"

"Actually, at this point it's already beyond considering, she's the only clear choice." L-Elf followed, much to Satomi's shock and Shoko's as well. "Out of all valvrave, Unit 06 has the most complicated electronic system. Not the sort of thing that combat oriented pilots like Tokishima Haruto and Rukino Saki can use properly. It needs someone with highly advanced computer manipulation skills. And Renbokuji Akira's skill in that department is so high, she literally redefine the metrics."

"Nice, Heil-Elf!" Shoko gave a thumbs up. "You hear that Akira-chan? That Valvrave is **yours** anyway! Come on! It'll be fun!"

Akira has stopped shivering and now she was partially convinced to accept Shoko, and by extension, L-Elf's offer. L-Elf observed the situation, and decided that the only way to ensure Akira's cooperation completely is by putting Shashinami Shoko into the equation. "You will also be able to better help Shashinami Shoko in doing this." There. L-Elf placed the final hammer. "You'll be able to protect her better aboard that ship. Remember, we're using that ship to protect the module where she resides."

Akira twitched upon this point and looked at Shoko's smiling face. "Remember, we're still going to the moon right? Once we get there, let's go to the supermarket together!" Shoko added with her kind smile. L-Elf's right. Their plan to go to the moon will take many more weeks towards completion and with the amount of attacks they're suffering; they need to better defend themselves against whatever Dorssia will throw at them next. Even 4 Valvraves were still hard pressed to protect them all… to protect Shoko. And what wouldn't she do to protect that smile.

**0000000000000000**

**The girl screamed hysterically, shaking her head left and right violently as her fingers combed her disheveled hair, clawing her beautiful face with her mind driven to insanity when she exploded. **

**0000000000000000**

No response… and then…

Beep… beep. "?" L-Elf took his phone. A message from an unknown number. It says: **I'll think about it.**

L-Elf showed the message to Satomi and a smiling Shoko crawling out of the shack. "Heeeh…" Shoko chuckled.

"How did she get this number? Even I don't know!" L-elf twitched.

Satomi sighed in defeat. "If you value my sister's skill so high, will you stop questioning what she can do?"

"But this is unacceptable. We cannot afford to wait for her, Dorssia can come tomorrow for all we know-"

"HEIL-ELF!" Shoko barked as she jammed another of her cake straight into his mouth, this time shoving it down his throat to prevent him from spitting it out.

L-Elf gasped in shock and choked several times, gargling for breath. Shoko grinned. "Just take it a step at a time. It's okay, Akira. Take your time! We'll wait. Come on, Heil-Elf." Shoko grabbed the still choking L-Elf by the collar and dragged him away from the shack.

"Shouldn't we tell Tokishima about this?" Satomi shrugged. "I distinctly recall somebody gave him ownership to all of the Valvraves!"

Upon being reminded of a certain brown haired boy, Shoko smile faltered slightly. The memory of that kissing event is still fresh in her memories. "meh… We'll tell him later." She nervously added. She wanted to avoid seeing him, thus distracting herself with all sorts of work. She doesn't know what to say to him when the time comes though.

**0000000000000000**

**The girl pant and gasp, her body covered in liquid from groin up, her tired lips formed a twisted smile as green glowing markings appeared on the left side of her neck and reached her cheek… markings that looked similar to a spider's web… **

**0000000000000000**

Meanwhile, L-Elf had finally managed to swallow the damn cake. And he was quite surprised that, like all of Shoko's creation, bizarre appearance aside, it actually tasted pretty good. That opinion was clearly shown in his face. Shoko smiled again in triumph. "Taste good isn't it?"

L-Elf grumbled. "And what happened to that nutritional recipe I gave you for rations?"

"Yeah… I might've misplaced it." Shoko grinned. 'Down the oven…' "This one is tastier anyway. Lighten up Heil-Elf! You're too serious!"

"…and you are not serious enough." L-Elf groaned. "And would it kill you to say my name right?"

"Huh?" Shoko tilted her head in confusion. "But I'm saying your name right. Heil-Elf, right?'

"L-Elf! L-ELF!"

"L-Helf?" Shoko strained.

"L. Elf."

"Hell-Elf?'

"…you're doing this on purpose aren't you?"

"Heil-Elf sound better anyway." Shoko consider the case closed. "By the way, what about your friend, what was his name… An-Drei?"

"A-Drei!" L-Elf groaned. "And yes, he's doing fine as a teacher in the War Class."

_See, while L-Elf took responsibility for teaching the students on the arts of war the physical way, A-Drei, L-elf's friend who had taken refuge with us take it upon himself to teach the theory of war to anyone willing to come to his class. His reasons for lending his help were known only to two, and they delight in not talking. Truth be told however, unlike L-Elf who had been accepted, A-Drei has a long way to go from being warmly welcomed. Everyone kept their distance… and right now there's only one person attending his class._

**0000000000000000**

**The markings disappeared and the girl turned around. Perhaps she wanted to finally get up, until she was once again pushed down… much to her joy…**

**0000000000000000**

"In Sun Tzu's art of war, there's a saying, the principle of knowing your enemy and yourself. What does it says?"

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle." **Inuzuka **Aina answered. Sun Tzu art of war was his/her favorite. After all, they can also be practiced in the economy.

_Indeed, it took us a while to accept Inuzuka Kyuuma and Sakurai Aina's new circumstances. For a start…_

"Ah… wait, I need to go to the toilet!" Inuzuka rushed out of the class, walk past L-Elf, Shoko and Satomi, straight into the toilet. Seconds later…

"AAAAAAAAAARGGGHHH!" Every male ran out of the **gents**.

Inuzuka walked out timidly. "Aaah… ooops… I… uhh… forgot." H/She walked towards the Ladies… and stopped right in front of the door. H/She had done this before… but she's still having trouble. His mind is still that of a boy. Shoko sighed in understanding and went to help.

A-drei walked out of his class and shook his head. "Unbelievable. We were beaten time and again by these jokers…"

"Only one student, eh, A-Drei?"

"Actually, at times, there are two." A-Drei watched as Shoko walked out with a blushing Inuzuka Aina soon after. "Aina-chan… I'm sorry…" **She** mourned.

"Two?" L-Elf pondered. "Rukino Saki?"

A-Drei nodded. "But she's been absent in the last few days. I don't know why."

"Come to think of it, I haven't seen neither her or Tokishima-kun for like, forever!" Satomi looked around, hoping to catch sight of Haruto or Saki walking the corridors. "I mean… I know they're a couple now… but…"

"Are you worried?" Shoko shrugged, clearly uncomfortable with this subject.

**0000000000000000**

**And she screamed… screamed… screamed hysterically again and again for the umpteenth time in intoxication as his fingers tightly gripped with hers, her breasts pressing tightly against the bars and her back felt like they're going to melt when they climaxed… her twitching fingers could barely hold on to the bars for support…**

**0000000000000000**

"I got reporters up my eyes asking questions about those two!" Satomi balked.

_Ah, yes. I almost forgot. After that latest incident, Module 77 suddenly became the center of attention around the world. The inconceivable win of 4 Valvrave (5, if you count the fact Unit 06 take indirect part) versus 7 Walkit Space Cruisers and their entire fleet was something quite unheard of, and it had made us all into rock stars. Especially the Valvrave pilots. A documentary film director by the name of Burnett came, said he wanted to make a documentary of the students life in the Sakimori High to be broadcasted in ARUS every day. Problem is, many other journalist and news reporter tagged along with him. _

Raizo and his athletic team lifted Yusuke, in his pilot suit up on their shoulders as they posed with unit 03 at the background. Cameramen and paparazzi took pictures like there's no tomorrow.

_Apparently, this action had also showed the Dorssian forces a thing or two. Sensors indicated that Dorssian forces had all but retreated, well beyond our radar. Apparently they were also afraid that if they attacked us again, Dorssia will lose more of their resources to us. Of course, many still fear, and realized, that this is just the calm before the storm. And yet, still the reporters came anyway. And while they interviewed many people, their main goal, other than the Valvrave pilots, was to interview the two main pilots: Tokishima Haruto, the hero of Module 77 as well as the first Valvrave Pilot… and his now confirmed lover, Rukino Saki, the rising Fighting star Diva of JIOR._

_Well… everyone aboard the module unanimously agreed that the fact that all Valvrave pilots are vampires had to be kept secret… further enforced by Akira-chan's foolproof information cordon. But Rukino-san didn't just kissed Haruto-kun in front of the students, she did so publically amidst a broadcast. The fact that they are a couple is now everyone's secret, and they saw little need to keep that one under wraps. _

_Awkwardly… Haruto disappeared from everyone's sight as soon as things had calmed down right after the battle. And Rukino-san also disappeared with him. Almost everyone naturally assumed… the "worst"… but somehow… I felt something else… _

_End of log. _

**00000000**

Nanami Rion stretched her arms. She hadn't updated her diary for like… forever. With so much going on… no wonder they were so long.

And then the door knocks. Rion moaned. "Come in."

And walking in… was none other than… "Rukino-san!" Rion cheered. But then her surprise was replaced with concern.

Unlike her usually tidy and well kept state, Saki looked pale and tired. She's wearing her pilot suit, a sign that she just rode her Valvarve. There are eyebags beneath her reddened eyes, and her hair was unkempt. And her expression… this is neither her cheerful persona nor cold and aloof expression. This is something else entirely. There's sorrow and… something else…

"Rukino-san? A…Are you okay?"

Saki blinked and then she smiled weakly. "I'm fine. I just want to ask… how's the situations here? Any problems?"

"No. No not at all."

"I see… Haruto was concerned. But… if there's no problem… that's great then." And then she left.

"Rukino-san!" Rion caught up with her. "A… Are you okay? What happened? Is Haruto-kun…!?"

"I'm okay…" Saki smiled weakly. "I'm just… a bit tired…" She bid her a wave and then she ran off. And then Rion noticed that Carmilla was parked right outside the school, and Saki had just opened a window so that she can climb back in. As she did, a whole army of reporters and people who were DYING to see her came charging across the corridor towards her, much to Rion's horror.

"RUKINO SAKI! A WORD FOR THE STAR TIMES PLEASE!" "RUKINO SAKI! WE WOULD LIKE YOU TO STAR IN OUR NEW ADVERTISEMNT!" "RUKINO-SAN! WHEN WILL YOUR NEXT SINGLE COME OUT!?" "HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN IN RELATIONSHIP WITH TOKISHIMA HARUTO!?"

Saki looked at all these people came for her… and she gave a small chuckle. She didn't even gave them a bat of an eye and she quickly entered the cockpit, closed the hatch, and Carmilla quickly launched up and flew away, leaving all the reporters and story seekers behind.

And while the reporters and journalists grumbled and moaned, Shoko and Satomi arrived on the scene. "Nanami-sensei!"

"?" The reporters and Rion looked at Shoko, who's completely out of breath, and Satomi, who looked like he was halfway to his grave out of exhaustion.

"Rukino-san! She was here? She really was here?"

Rion nodded as she flabbergasted. "You just missed her, Shashinami-kun. She came here all the way with Carmilla."

Shoko sighed. "Was… was Haruto with her?"

"No." A pang mixture of disappointment and relief formed in Shoko's face. "But she… did mention Haruto." Rion added.

"W… What does he says?" A hopeful Shoko asked.

"…he wanted a quick update on the condition of the Module."

Shoko felt slightly disappointed. "What happened to him?" Shoko turned to L-Elf. "You know anything about this?"

"What are you talking about?"

L-Elf's question was quickly drowned by the questions coming from the other reporters and journalist. "Excuse me?" "Are you Shashinami Shoko?" "Are you planning to recreate Jior?" "With your father's return, will New Jior join the old Jior?" "Or will old Jior unite with the New Jior?" "Where did you get such powerful weapons like the Valvraves?"

Shoko don't know what to say to all this barrage of questions. She's definitely not ready.

"I… uhh… I have no comment on the matter." Shoko also had other things in her mind. Haruto had been missing for days… and now he start using Saki as messenger… Forget the fact they are officially a couple, Shoko had known Haruto all her life, she knew he'll never made a goffer out of anyone, especially a girlfriend… unless he absolutely had to. And she's through asking question and avoiding him. "L… L-elf! I don't care how, I need to get to Potemkin. That's the only place I can think of on where Haruto might hide!"

"Oh so you finally get my name right…"

"Less talk and more on getting me that transport!"

**0000000000000000**

Meanwhile…

Saki climbed down Carmilla and waved hands to the other former captives who had decided to stay aboard the Potemkin. She floated and thoughtlessly moved to the elevator and pressed down. To the fifth floor: prison.

As she stands inside the elevator, she thought of all those reporters and people who offered her this and that, asking questions about the whats and the whys… Funny. A little while ago she will not hesitate to revel in all this… In fact, this is exactly what she had always wanted… and suddenly she felt all this meant nothing to her. There's only one thing mattered to her, and now he's waiting for her.

Saki walked out the elevator, past many cages filled with Dorssian prisoners, and she entered a special room… well apart from the normal prison, it is a dark cage designed for maximum security, reserved for the most dangerous of criminals. She opened the lock and entered the cage, locking the door behind her. "I've talked to Nanami-sensei. It seems everything is just fine in the module."

"…"

"Haruto…?"

A pair of red eyes and crisscrossing red scars appeared from the darkness and then a moan. "Please…"

Saki blinked.

"Please… just let me die… please…"

"I see."

She double checked the locked doors, locked the system from inside, shut down the camera… and stripped herself naked.

That's right… she already all she wanted… right here… with him…

They got hours for themselves anyway.

**0000000000000000**

When Shoko, L-Elf, Satomi and Inuzuka get their hands to a shuttle that is just departing to Potemkin, they were surprised to also find Shoko's father there, accompanied by Takumi Kibukawa in a wheelchair, being pushed by Nanami Rion.

"Dad? What are you doing?"

"I could ask you the same Shoko?"

"I'm looking for Haruto. He's been missing for days, he isn't anywhere in the Module and I think he's aboard Potemkin."

"I… I see…" For some reason, Ryuuji looked somewhat pale. "…umm… might it be best… if you visit him some other time?"

Bad response. Upon hearing the tone that her father was using: that of fear and uncertainty, Shoko grew more worried. "Why? What's wrong with him? Dad? Is he ill? Another one of his seizures again?"

Ryuuji quickly attempted to allay her fears. "No, no, no… he's okay. He's just fine… but… but…"

Ryuuji's flabbergasted answer merely made things worse. Now Shoko looked really desperate, and Ryuuji is well on the verge of panic. He finally resolved. "Maybe I should leave for now." and much to Shoko's chargrin, her father intended to get away from answering her question… until…

Click.

Ryuuji stopped upon hearing the sound of a gun being cocked. He looked at the source and gaped. It was L-Elf. "I'm sorry, Prime Minister Shashinami… But I'm afraid you're not going anywhere."

"Boy… look…"

Click.

Ryuuji stopped when he felt another gun being pointed at his neck from behind by A-Drei. A-Drei looked at L-Elf and smirked. "I see we think alike."

"L-Elf! A-Drei! What are you doing?" Inuzuka growled.

"Extracting the truth." L-Elf clicked the safety on his gun as he motioned the Prime Minister to sit down. And he did. "You certainly know more than you let on, Prime Minister. You… and Professor Takumi Kibukawa here. When this shuttle start moving, you will tell us everything there is to know regarding the VVV plan."

Ryuuji looked at the children in that room, he looked at her daughter's tearful eyes, the immeasurable pain she had endured, seeing her childhood friend becoming the creature that he is… and then he realized… he owed them. He owed these children an explanation for what he had done. "Put down your gun, Dorssians. I will tell you everything for the asking. But… first things first. Let's go check on Haruto, alright?"

L-Elf and A-drei looked at each other and put down their gun.

**Chapter 3**

**VVV Project: Unveiling the world**

Soon, they've arrived at the Potemkin, and there, they saw 01 and 04 are on standby… a proof that Haruto and Saki are indeed aboard this ship. Surprisingly, 03 is also there, using, online. Yusuke is once again using 03's multi limbs to aid the crew in the… remodeling.

But another point of attention was this: there's a bunch of people dressed as scientists were waiting for them right at the hangar. They looked… panicked. And they were holding this holographic screens in their hands. As soon as the shuttle landed, call it something, L-Elf held Shoko back, and motioned Ryuuji to go down first at gunpoint.

Ryuuji had a bad feeling on what exactly L-Elf wanted to do, but he obeyed.

When he get down, as he feared, he didn't get any chance to prevent them from saying anything, the men in white coats blabbered. "Prime Minister! Thank God! We just managed to reboot the system on module 77 that oversee the conditions of the children. But it's… that Tokishima's boy! It's happening! He's undoing our conditioning that we put into him years ago! We don't understand, he's literally breaking off all his mind blocks through sheer will power, all his suppressed memories are… and the neurological damage is…" The scientist prattling was cut off as soon as Ryuuji lift his hand… but he knew it was too late.

Shoko stepped out of the shuttle having heard all that. She looked at her father with an uncharacteristically cold gaze. "Dad… what… have you done… to Haruto?"

The scientists who saw Shoko and recognized who she is gasped. They looked in horror as L-Elf and A-drei also walked out of the shuttle, pointing a gun at the Prime Minister. "Take us to Tokishima Haruto. Now."

Within moments, they are all aboard the elevator, with an addition of Yusuke, who can easily notice when the prime minister is once again seemingly under peril, and offered to come along when he was told how it's about Haruto.

The scientists explained with trembling lips. "He came here a few days ago, together with 04's pilot. He practically crash landed here… and then the girl asked us to bring them to the maximum security prison."

"Prison?" Shoko blinked. "Why would Rukino-san brought a sick Haruto to prison?"

"Remember, Tokishima Haruto often suffered bouts of berserk fury due to his need to aggressively feed." L-Elf reminded everyone.

"But… that doesn't make sense!" Inuzuka gawked. "Haruto just fed on a lot of people! How come he still need to feed… even after that?"

"We'll know soon enough."

The elevator landed on the 5th floor. The group walked past the prison cells, where they saw a lot of Dorssian soldiers being imprisoned inside their own cell. When they saw L-Elf and A-drei holding the prime ministers at gunpoint, everyone thought… well… these two are going to free them?

But their relief instantly turned into worry as they moved past the normal prison… straight towards the maximum security prison reserved for the worst of the worst.

"Don't!" One of the prisoner suddenly yelled.

The group looked at that one prisoner.

"Don't go in there." The prisoner warned them. "A witch of a girl brought that monster in there, and he hasn't come out since."

"Witch?"

"The only one who came out was that girl. And every time she did… she was… full of scars. I saw one time she had a massive claw mark on her face… big enough to leave behind a scar… funnily… they disappeared every time she comes back." The prisoner gulped. "I even saw one time she… I think she lost an ear… but they grew back… right before my very eyes!"

Everyone paled.

"Whatever's in there… they're not human I tell you…" the terrified prisoner slunk back into the dark.

The group looked at each other, but Shoko persevere. "Come on. Let's go in there and check it out."

When they get to the door, it was locked… from inside. "Is there a way for us to open this?" Everyone turned to the Dorssians.

"It was locked from inside with the captain's master password. Last I checked, the captain was all drained dry by Tokishima Haruto. Which means he's the one who locked from inside." L-Elf rubbed his chin.

"But Rukino can come in?"

"He must've given her the password."

But Shoko never one to let locked doors stopped her. Besides, she has a cyber guardian angel one phone call away. "Akira-chan? Door please?" Shoko smiled to the security camera.

Seconds later…

Click, click, clack!

The door is unlocked.

"How did she do that?" A-Drei twitched in disbelief. "I mean… how did she always know where she is without going anywhere outside that shack?" 

"Last I checked, she rigged her computer to automatically hack any camera in the area where Shashinami was at as soon as she received a phone call from her." Satomi groaned.

When they enter the cage, it was… dark. But what made them all wince was the smell of blood and… and… something else. The ground is sticky… and uneven. "What… happened here…?" L-elf and A-drei didn't flinch but they were a bit confused. There's blood… but the room smells strangely of sem-

"Please…"

Everyone gasped… and then, they saw him.

"…please… please… please let me go…"

Lying at the center of the room dirty, and… stark naked… were Haruto. "Haru-!" Shoko clasped her mouth.

The boy looked like hell… and that would be an understatement. His hair was disheveled, he looked very thin, and there are terrible eyebags beneath his empty eyes. His pupils rolled upward, he was drooling as well as foaming on the floor. His dried up lips were twitching, badly. His mouth mumbling bizarre gibberish. But amongst the endless mutter and babbles, one can discern a sentence: "Please… please… let me go… just let me go…"

Shoko's heart skipped a beat and he rushed to his side. "Haruto! Haruto! Are you okay? It's me Shoko! Haruto?"

"Please… please…" Haruto didn't respond. It seems he wasn't even aware that there are other people in the room with him. "Please… please… let me go… please…"

"Haruto? Haruto?"

"Please… let me **die."**

"Eh?"

"Please! Let me go! Let me die! Please!" Haruto's moaning grew louder… his tone was desperate. "Please… let me die… PLEASE! Please let me die! Let ME DIE! PLEASE!" Soon his moan turned into screams and Haruto's trashing grew more violently. Until suddenly, red markings appeared and his eyes turned red. And he screeched. "AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

Shoko gasped when Haruto suddenly pushed her back violently. He shoved Shoko down to the ground and choked her by the neck. "Ha… HAru-to!"

Haruto grasped her clothes and clawed the first layer savagely. Shoko gasped. But before he can go further, a pair of strong men, L-Elf and A-Drei grabbed him by the shoulders and dragged him back. Haruto struggled and screamed while the two silver haired boys dragged him back away from Shoko. The two Dorssian elite doesn't look like they're having trouble to keep him under control, but if it were other people, Haruto could've easily tear them apart.

Shoko looked in horror at Haruto and then she touched her torn clothes. '… was he trying to…' "Shoko are you alright?" Ryuuji asked. Shaking her head to throw such ridiculous notion out of the window, Shoko looked at Haruto's latest seizures. "He's having another attack again, alright." 

"Sedate him!" Ryuuji glanced meaningfully at his team of scientist. They nodded and brought forward an eerie looking syringe filled with strange red liquid…

"Hold him down! Hold him down!"

The two dorssians tightened their grip, reducing Haruto's trashing movements to a grunt. The scientist were preparing to inject the substance to Haruto…

Until suddenly, the female hand of an angry Rukino Saki grabbed him by the collar and yanked the said scientist back before she hurled him across the room, with one hand. Saki glared at the Karstein agents. "GET OFF HIM!" She grabbed their collars, and much to the surprise of A-Drei and L-Elf, Saki easily lifted them both off the ground and threw them back.

L-Elf was particularly surprised at this, considering the one who did it was the same girl he beat down within seconds barely a few weeks ago. She's wearing her pilot suit, with its collar unbuttoned all the way to her waist, revealing her blue undershirt.

Saki gave them all an angry glare, which can be likened to that of a mother panther protecting her cub. She then turned to Haruto, who seem calm down considerably in her presence. But the markings on his face had yet to disappear. Haruto raised her hands. "Haruto? Haruto? Calm down. It's me, Saki. Okay? Just… calm down… Everything will be okay. Calm… down."

And soon, Haruto stopped. His ferocious and crazed eyes toned down considerably. The red markings disappeared, his reddened eyes reverted back to his blue ones. And now, instead of angry and demented, his expression was that of a frightened child, lost and confused. He curled back to the edge of the wall, shivering and panicking. One of the scientist made a break to the light switch, but then Saki snapped at him. "DON'T turn on the lights. He's getting frenzied when it's bright." Saki glanced at the people at her back. "You there… grab my bag!"

"Bag?" A-Drei blinked… and then he noticed there's a bag lying on the ground right next to him, its content spill out: Dorssian rations.

"Toss me a can."

A-Drei grabbed a ration and throw it at Saki, who easily caught it. She opened it and slowly, gently offered it to a frightened Haruto. "Haruto? Haruto? Food. Okay? Food."

Haruto slowly approached the said 'food' and then he snapped it off Saki's hand, before he started eating it beastly with his hands… like an animal.

Shoko looked at this disturbing scene with horror.

"Rukino Saki." L-Elf asked the question that was shot through everyone's minds. "What… is going on here?"

Sometime later, everyone sat down on the floor, while Haruto had fallen asleep after eating his fill (3 cans of that god-awful tasting Dorssian rations).

Shoko was still a little shaken after what happened, but then she recovered quickly, as usual, and was the first to ask. "Rukino-san… what happened?"

Rukino sighed as she finally reiterated. "Barely hours after the hostage situation was over, Haruto quickly returned to his room, never coming out. After a day passed… I was worried… so I check up on him. That's when I heard screaming and stuff breaking. I thought he had another attack. So I forced my way in. But by the time I managed to enter his room, he was already on the floor, prone, dazed… and he kept muttering gibberish, his eyes were unfocused. His room was ransacked: pillows torn apart, bed ripped in half… This wasn't an episode. It was something else entirely. And he was violent. VERY violent. He kept muttering: 'forgive me', 'let me die', and… and… do many other things that I… that I'd rather not…" Saki gulped. "All I know that he was in extreme pain. His last coherent word was… 'lock me up.' We know the makeshift brig in the school was not enough… so I brought him to Potemkin's prison cell for maximum security. "I locked him up here, never… letting him out of sight." Saki added a little awkwardly. "Today I'm just running out of food and water, so I get out and get some, and then I see you A-holes trying to stick that muck into him!?"

"W… We're trying to sedate him."

"I'm not apologizing. All I see is you are trying to stick a needle right into Haruto's head." Saki glared angrily at the scientists. "I don't know much about medical science… but something that long isn't supposed to go anywhere near the head!"

Ryuuji looked at Haruto's naked and sleeping figure, and he was completely mortified. What have he done?

"The cat's out of the bag, Prime Minister." L-Elf murmured. "Tell us the truth now."

"Truth?" Saki twitched. "About all this?" She gestured at Haruto. "About him?"

Ryuuji closed his eyes and nodded.

"Then wait." Saki stated much to everyone's surprise. "Wait until he wakes up. He's usually pretty sane when he does. And he needs to hear it too."

"You know this?" Takumi blinked.

Saki gave him, gave them all an angry bloodshot and tired eyes. "You're not the one who locked himself in with him for the last few days, are you!?" Her annoyance was born from her exhaustion. "It's okay. Before today, he was crazy 90% of the time. But he's improving, he's now sane 90% of the time. You guys just came on a bad time." She stood up and moved to the light switch. "You think this looks bad?" she turned on the lights and everyone can now see what happened. "You should've seen him a few days ago."

The whole room was a bloody dirty mess. Blood stains here and there, claw marks made of finger nails… and some iron plating were dented in… Doesn't look like the work of a human… Shoko also noted the presence of a sleeping bag… torn apart. She looked at Saki, who merely answered. "I let my guard down and he attacked me. I survived by luck. End of story."

15 minutes later…

"Water…" came a murmur from the dry mouthed Haruto. "Water… Water…"

Once again, it was Saki who reacted before everyone else and brought a bottle of mineral water. She carefully helped him drink it. It was obvious that she was used to this by now. And then Haruto get back up slowly, and Saki covered his shivering figure in a warm blanket to swept away his sweat, and then giving him the only clothes available, his pilot suit, but she make sure it was loose and gave him room to breathe. Haruto's eyes, initially dazed, began to clear up, and that was when he realized there are other people in the room. "…Shoko… Inuzuka-senpai… L-Elf… Yusuke… everyone…" And then his eyes turned to the prime minister and he glared. "Prime Minister… Shashinami Ryuuji…" His tone intensified with emotion at the mention of his name.

Shoko felt mortified. After that kissing scene with Saki, Shoko didn't dare to see Haruto out of no small amount of shock and jealousy, and she assumed the worst. To think the truth was… so much worse. "Haruto? Are you okay? What happened to you?"

"…Potemkin." L-Elf suddenly muttered. "It's because of what you did in Potemkin, right?"

"You think it's because… what he did?" A-Drei noted.

"If you recall… other than transferring consciousness, we know that Tokishima Haruto can also sucks in memories and skills of other people into himself. He did it to me, he did it to you… but at Potemkin, he killed 47 people. And he didn't just kill them… he feeds on them. He absorbed everything: names, memories… everything. It's all there… in his head. That's how he knew their names and other details."

Haruto chuckled and nodded weakly. "A little warning for the rest of you…" He was referring to the other Valvrave pilots. "Don't… feed on 47 people all at once in a single sitting."

No one can laugh, especially Shoko.

Haruto momentarily glanced at her but quickly shot his eyes at Shashinami. "…you were involved… aren't you?"

Ryuuji looked sympathetically at Haruto… and then he looked at the eyes of the participants of this meeting, one by one: His daughter, Shoko, her friends: Yusuke Otamaya, Inuzuka Kyuuma, residing in Sakurai Aina's body, Satomi Renbokuji – another familiar name, Tokishima Haruto, the boy he had considered his own son, his lover, Rukino Saki. And then, representing Dorssia: L-Elf and A-Drei. 'They were all so young… and yet they're already carrying the future of our people over their shoulders.' And then his eyes turned back at Haruto. "…alright. Alright. I will tell you everything. All the truths."

"Close that door." Inuzuka and Yusuke closed the door to the prison shut and tight.

L-Elf seated himself next to Ryuuji. "Sir, your hand, please?"

Ryuuji showed the vein in his hand. L-Elf put two fingers on his veins to check his pulse. "This way, we will know if you tell the truth or not."

Ryuuji nodded. "What I'm about to tell you… only three people in this whole world knew about it. Myself… president of ARUS, Jeffery Anderson… and the Fuhrer of Dorssia, Amadeus K. Dorssia."

The one most surprised by this were L-Elf and A-Drei. The fuhrer? The ruler of their country knows this too?

"First… a question… before… today… do you believe in… vampires, mummies, witches… do you believe in fairy tales of creatures of the night who roam the dark, devouring people? Drinking their blood? Sucking out their souls? Bringing dead people back from the dead?"

"What is this?" A-drei growled.

"Human history is filled with such tales: Bram Stoker Dracula, P.H. Lovecraft, the curse of the mummies… but are they really fiction? Or… just a retelling of something that had happened before?" Ryuuji sighed. "Let's get the obvious out of the way. The question of whether or not humanity is alone in the universe was answered long ago. Centuries ago, during the dark ages. The people of that time don't know it… but an Alien race came to earth, long ago. They came… and they stayed."

Everyone gasped.

"Were they invaders, colonists, settlers, refugees… we do not know. But what we do know for a fact is… they have a unique disposition. They came from a world so different from ours… that upon contact with our atmosphere, they were reduced to a life-form of pure energy with no physical being. These beings assume a ghost-like state in our world. Worse yet, the longer they are exposed to our world, the more their lifeforce drains, they become more and more diminished and thinned… until eventually, they will vanish. However… nothing can be further from the truth, these beings are powerful. VERY powerful. At the peak of their strength, they can annihilate worlds in an eyeblink. But fortunately for us, on earth… on our world… their powers are greatly reduced." Ryuuji added. "Weakened as they are… these beings possessed one unique ability. They have ability to move their consciousness to a vessel, effectively overtaking the being, putting it under their thrall."

The humans in that room looked at the valvrave pilots, who frowned in realization, noticing the similarity in nature.

"When these beings first landed on earth, eons ago… we assume they knew next to nothing to our world. They first try to inhabit animals like bats, rats, wolves, ravens… But… their powers were too great, and these animals were unable to house their powerful essence. And they die. Most importantly… these animals cannot provide enough that which they needed to survive. Runes."

Inuzuka raised her hand. "And can you tell me what the hell a bloody Rune is?"

"We… haven't figured everything out yet either… but… we do know… oversimplifying it, Runes are energy. A powerful and virtually inexhaustible energy particle born from Information. Put it simply: living beings are made of molecules and particles. Information, likewise, are composed of information particles called Runes. If you think about it: Everything is made from information. Our shape, our form, our looks, everything. For example: humans, a human's shape are greatly dependant on information stored in their DNA blueprints. We are beings formed from information that was provided by these blueprints. It's not an exaggeration to say… every being with sentience is made of runes. But Magius… are different."

"Magius?"

"Yes. Our terminology to generally name these energy life forms. Type Seven Life form: Magius." Ryuuji repeated. "As I mentioned earlier, Magius are beings of pure energy in our atmosphere. While our 'runes' had manifested in physical form, their entire being is made completely out of runes, which is another way of saying they have no physical body. Without a proper container, they will disperse and fade. That is until they found a perfect vessel… in humans."

Haruto's eyes widened as he can feel his chest tightened.

"Humans fit them like a glove. We are at the top of the food chain… and as the dominant sentient species of our planet; we are creatures with enough sophistication in our emotions to generate the amount of Runes they needed to survive. What's more, when Magius took over a human body, they also absorbed all their knowledge, their experience, everything, but they maintain their ego, their sense of self. This allows them to easily blend in with our people, and none of us would be able to notice." Ryuuji took another breath. "But… Magius… are beings of incredible power… a power that was not so easily suppressed. Many humans inhabited by Magius began to develop… oddities. This much we knew: they became immortals. They possess powerful regenerative abilities, as well as other super natural powers born from their masterful use of runes. However… there are also some who develop the ability to turn into wolves when the moon was out… some suffered a mutation that caused them to combust in the sun, thus they need to feed at night… one even grow so desperate, he created a body made of sown together corpses, only to be driven insane by his success."

"You're talking about werewolves, vampires, and Frankenstein." A-Drei's temper seemingly spent as he stood up in anger. "You're talking of horror stories and boogie tales made to scare children! You're asking us to believe such a ridiculous nonsense?"

"You don't believe me?" Ryuuji chuckled. "Then first, you must reject everything that has happened from the moment you ran into the Valvraves up until to this point. You must reject these beings standing before you now, before your very eyes. Because that's exactly what they are." Ryuuji made his point by pointing at the Valvrave pilots. "You best start believing in horror stories and Boogie Tales, Mr. A-Drei. You're in one, right now."

A-Drei was taken back and then he calmed himself down before returning to his seat. "Please continue."

Ryuuji continued his story. "Obviously, humans eventually noticed. The details had been lost beyond recall, but the Magius claimed… it was the humans who don't take kindly of their ability to possess other lifeforms that struck first. While humans deemed it was Magius who began trying to control human affairs with their abilities, possessing men of importance such as kings and overlords of great power. War breaks out between the two races across the histories that lasted for centuries. We don't know who won. But we do know, there are countless casualties from both sides. Enough to leave their marks in our history. For example… the black plague that ravaged Europe in the 14th century. That was a Magius. Enraged to the point of insanity, he split his being into countless tiny pieces and inhabited the rats that brought the plague. Lasted only 7 years… but it took 150 years for Europe to recover its population after that incident. And then there's the witch hunt frenzy in the 16th century. Millions of people, mostly woman, suspected to be Magius were hanged and burned in witch hunt and trials till the end of the 17th century."

Saki shivered in fright as she heard this story. She unconsciously grabbed Haruto's hand beneath the table. To her gladness, Haruto squeezed her back.

"Eventually… it all came to a stop. The surviving Magius finally decided to leave humanity alone. A pact was made between the two races. Magius will keep to themselves and let humans be… provided humanity will offer them runes for their continued survival." Ryuuji connected his fingers together. "The Magius banded together and formed a council known as the Council of 101, the ruling body of all Magius that exist in our planet. Their one and only goal, is to ensure the survival of their race, and to keep most of the humans in the dark regarding their existence. Millennia passed since then. And the existence of Magius had been reduced to nothing more than make believe stories and fiction made by authors who were lucky enough to glean on the scraps and fractions coming from what little remained of the proof of their existence. And for centuries… they kept their silence. They watched humanity's civilization rise and fall countless times. Hundreds of years… thousands… those are but an eye blink for them."

Ryuuji paused for a moment to allow these teenagers to process what he told them up until this point, while he himself gathered his breath.

"Now… I don't know when it happened… but the Council began to… take a more active role in determining the course this world should take. They've slowly worm their way back to power while keeping their existence a secret… and today… the world's most powerful political leaders in the world… the President of ARUS, the Fuhrer of Dorssia… and me. All must answer to the Council of 101." Ryuuji sighed. "And… as you guys can just about imagine… we don't take too kindly of this. But we have no choice. We know what they can do, and they have eyes and ears everywhere. We grudgingly followed their orders, giving them tithe of humans to have their runes sucked out. We wield more power than any human alive, and yet we are just cattle to them. Cattle that they fattened to be harvested later, and we are powerless to defy them." Ryuuji's face frowned in anger.

"But then… something happened that became our tipping point. About 20 years ago, an Alien object crash landed on earth, at the bottom of the North Pacific Ocean. JIOR science team found it first. And we were thrilled. The Alien Object is a vessel. A craft containing an alien lifeform that cannot exist physically in our physical world, reducing her to a ghost like state. All matches the description of a Magius. A pure new magius that hasn't inhabited any local vessel. You know who I speak, Haruto-kun?"

Haruto's eyes widened in realization. "…Pino. Pino is a Magius."

"Yes. At first we were terrified. We kept Pino imprisoned for some time. We believed that the Council 101 will come looking for her… but they didn't. Suddenly… we have something that the Magius didn't know about: a pure magius. What's more, she had proven herself to be extremely cooperative. And thus… the VVV project was born." Ryuuji's face grew noticeably heavy with regret and sorrow. "A mad plan… for the world to break free of the control of the Council 101 and the Magius' predation. To put it simply… the plan is… to fight fire with fire. To fight these Magius we attempted to create a Magius of our own, with Pino providing us the knowledge needed to create a genetic template for an earthborn Magius. Magius is powerful but they don't actually have a physical body. We tried to create a hybrid of the two races, half Magius, half human: **Homo Sapien Novus**."

Haruto looked at his hand… at himself… He's starting to understand what he is, what he had become.

"All three nations pooled their resources together under the common goal of breaking free of the control of the Council. ARUS provided the funding, Dorssia provided the technology and weapons." And when it's his turn, Ryuuji stopped. It seems the next bit was the hardest part for him.

"What did you give them, Shashinami Ryuuji?" L-Elf pressed.

Ryuuji fidgeted.

Shoko lean forward. "Dad?"

The old man lifted his watery eyes and looked at his daughter. "I… provided… the experimental grounds… and the test subjects… **you**. **ALL of you.** Every student within the Sakimori High… Yes. Even you Shoko. An entire module… the whole inhabitants of the Dyson Sphere… in fact. All were purposed… for the creation of our earthborn Magius… you."

Every Sakimori Students in that room looked at the Prime Minister with widened eyes.

"When we first… begin the project… they were setbacks. Our first subjects were all volunteers of adult age. But… the changes we are doing to them were so extreme… none of them survive the transformation. We lost hundreds of test subjects… and we grew desperate. Desperate enough to go through lengths that no human should have gone… A scientist proposes the maddest of procedures… which we followed through. We randomly selected several hundred pregnant women across the country… and through the use of food laced with bioengineering nano-agent, we altered the embryo… from birth, creating the seed that will grow into the beings that we wanted."

"And our parents!?" Inuzuka growled. "Do they know anything about this!?"

To everyone's horror, Ryuuji nodded. "They were either JIOR soldiers, former and active, or scientists, as well as…" Ryuuji looked at the horrified Satomi. "…Consenting parents. They all agreed that once their conditioned children reached a certain age… they will brought them all here, to this school, through various means and then we kept them on a constant watch, where we can further condition and experimented on them, under the guise of various school activity… until they are ready to receive the final treatment and transformation."

"Watch?" Yusuke's lips were trembling.

"Those people out there…" L-Elf closed his eyes as he calmly reiterates. "Your families… all those people who lived here… from construction workers to doctors and even the everyday salary man… even your teachers… were all JIOR soldiers. Tasked to do one thing and one thing only: to watch over you guys." L-Elf looked at the now pale Yusuke and then he gestured to Kibukawa. "Takumi Kibukawa was also a soldier. He was tasked in overseeing the genetic makeup of all the test subjects in this school. The students. The only exception was that woman… Nanami Rion."

"SHUT UP YOU DORSSIAN!" Yusuke exploded. "SHUT UP! YOU'RE LYING! I DON'T BELIEVE YOU! MY PARENTS… KIBUKAWA-SENSEI… I… I DON'T…" he couldn't take it, Yusuke hyperventilate and collapsed. Inuzuka quickly came to his aid, but she was no less shocked at this revelation.

Haruto still managed to keep his calm, but he was visibly shaken. That explains it. Why ARUS pilots died when they tried to pilot a Valvrave and yet he and Saki survived. Those things were never meant to be controlled by humans… and they were never humans from the very beginning.

Saki trembled. But then, she's starting to understand a few points… why her mother hate her so much that she did such a thing… why her father abandoned her… why her career suddenly went into an end… it all make sense now… she was never a star… she was a… biological weapon…

The room was silent for a long time. With only panting and gasping from Yusuke, and the labored breathing of Shoko, who still in disbelief over what her father did to her… to all of them.

"If…" Haruto suddenly choked. "…if that's true… that we… are the goal… that we are all… all of us… every student in the Sakimori High… are Magius… then why… are we… the Valvrave pilots… Why am I… why are we so different with the rest of them?"

Ryuuji shook his head. "It's not that you are different. But… it's because your Magius genes had been reawakened."

"Reawakened?"

"At the early stages of the project, we decided to split the genetic sequences. Right now… all your classmates are no more human than the rest of us. The DNA and RNA strands that will turn you into a Magius are inert. Eternally dormant. However… to complete the sequence, a catalyst is needed. We decided to place it inside the Valvraves. You need the Valvraves to activate those genes and complete the transformation into a Full Fledged Magius."

L-Elf lifted his hand. "Why designed it that way? Why not just made a complete sequence from the start?"

"To give you the benefit of choice. To be whatever you wished to be." Ryuuji frowned. "I wanted you all… to experience what it's like to be a human first. And then after that… you can decide for yourself… do you wish to resign your humanity… or not."

The valvrave pilots found that question incredibly familiar.

"Who headed this project?" A-Drei asked.

"…a good friend of mine. His name is…" Ryuuji looked at Haruto. "Tokishima Shoichi. Your father."

Everyone turned to the other Tokishima in the room. Contrary to what everyone might expect, Haruto wasn't shocked… not by the least. "My father." Haruto sighed. "I should've known."

"Should've known?" L-Elf blinked.

"I…" Haruto looked at Shoko and changed his words. "I hardly ever see him when I was a boy. I spent most of the time with Shoko… my… childhood time… but I've never… see my father."

At this, L-Elf sensed something in Ryuuji's pulse… and the way Haruto answered that question, he hid something. But considering the situation, he didn't say anything, considering irrelevant… for now.

Satomi raised his hands. "Question… we've been… living in this module for years now… and yet… we lived a life… a normal life. Some of us even had lived here all our lives… We never felt like… we've been experimented upon…"

"That's because we took the memory away from you." Ryuuji's answer earned everyone's shock. "Using Runes."

"Runes are information particle." L-Elf caught on. "If you say Information are made of runes… then the most abundant amount of runes that exist in humans… are in their memories and thoughts."

"Exactly." Ryuuji nodded. "We tested on you. On all of you. Whenever someone was absent or not coming to school for whatever reasons… that student was, in fact, underwent an experiment in one of our labs. After the experiment was done… we removed the runes, particularly the ones that pertain to that specific memory. And we replaced it with an artificial memory, through the use of therapy and subliminal hypnosis."

"You're saying you're messing with our brain?" Saki roared. "All of our brains!?"

"The experiment methods used on you are of extreme sort. So extreme, the trauma you all endured was… it would've scarred you all for life. The neurological damage was catastrophic… not to mention the psychological damage. Some of you had even…" Ryuuji mournfully looked at Haruto. This does not escape Saki's and Shoko's notice. "…Some of you had even nearly gone mad forever."

"We don't want that to happen. So we gave you a different, more pleasant memory. Visiting a family or… spending all day in bed due to cold… normal memories… we don't want you to think that you are monsters."

"Enough."

"We tried… to give you a normal life. To make you feel human."

"ENOUGH!"

Ryuuji looked at Shoko. "Shoko?" She just banged the table, her eyes widened in disbelief.

"How could you do this?" Shoko stared at her father as if looking at a stranger with angry tearful eyes. Who is this man? This is not the man who raised her. This is not the man whom she adored and loved. "You… You turned us into… post-human soldiers? EVEN your own children!?"

"I turned you all… into weapons." Ryuuji closed his eyes in mortification. "…weapons to fight in a war that should've been fought by us adults… in order to provide you children with the future free of control… the freedom to make your own destiny." Ryuuji mournfully looked at Shoko. "Shoko… I… I'm sorry. I… I know I was wrong to use my own child… in such an inhuman experiment… I understand it was wrong of me as a parent… but…" Ryuuji gritted his teeth. "If I didn't do at least that much… it would be an even greater sin if I'm to put the children of every other parents on the line without risking mine. But I know it was wrong. Everything is… I'm sorry… Shoko… Haruto… Everyone…"

But Shoko would not hear anymore of this. She takes one last look at the shaken Haruto and she ran out of the room, bursting in tears. Likewise, Haruto looked like a corpse, completely and thoroughly shaken to his very core. In fact, all Valvrave pilots were in more or less the same state. Anyone would.

Satomi roared. "And what about Akira? My sister! She's a shut in! Are you telling me she was tinkered with too!?" 

Ryuuji nodded. "We didn't just use direct machines to do the experiment… the food you eat, the pop soda you drank, even the very air you breathe… all contain… the mutational genes needed to trigger the transformation. We also put degradable nano sensors inside them… so that we can continue monitor the students' behavior and transformation."

Satomi couldn't take it anymore and he walked out that meeting, a very shaken and delirious man.

The only ones who didn't flinch were the Dorssians. "I take it the transformation wouldn't happen in a day." A-Drei surmised. He's been here for days now, L-Elf was even longer than that. If there are any changes, they'll be piloting Valvraves by now.

"It took years." Ryuuji looked at A-Drei and L-Elf. "And there's an age limit on when the mutagenic compound administered can have any significant effect. At your age… there won't be any changes."

And when the issue moved to the Dorssians, Inuzuka raised the important question. "Back up a little bit… you said Dorssia were in cahoots with you all along in this project? Dorssia started this whole mess: they're the ones who attacked us first! If you're in this together, why are they attacking us!?"

L-Elf and A-Drei looked at Ryuuji. They too were wondering about their latest mission… and why it went so awry.

"The reason… well… because it seems… Amadeus trust just as much as he trust Jeffry… which is another way of saying… he didn't trust me at all. The reason that I was chosen to perform the experimentation, was because JIOR, a neutral country, was able to provide a Dyson Sphere, which isn't part of Earth. Amadeus distrust ARUS, as do Jeffry, regarding Dorssia. Neither of them can trust one another well enough to see this project through and cannot choose the lesser of two evils. Think about it, children… we're talking about a weapon so powerful, that it will redefine the new world order. When the war is won and the council 101 is no more… who will take the reign? Whosoever has control of the Valvrave and the secret to create an army of immortals can defeat the Magius… and then the world, nay, the universe will be up for grabs. Amadeus took the initiative and ordered an attack into the Sakimori School under the cover of expansion. But in truth, all he wanted was to get his hands on the Valvrave and the datas pertaining to the creation of Earth born Magius. And when Jeffry finds out about this… he understands… and he also took actions."

"But… if it is as you say… that my country are being run by monsters in the shadows… they must've already found out about this… about you… about… your magius." A-Drei frowned.

"Truth be told, after I heard the news of Dorssian forces attacked module 77, I suspected there's more afoot than Amadeus' ambitions." Ryuuji's brow knitted. "But I fear… right now… he's biting off more than he can chew."

**0000000000000000**

Somewhere on earth…

In a location that will remain undisclosed…

Men and women in hood gathered together in a closed room.

Two person were brought before these hooded men and woman.

One is Amadeus K. Dorssia. The Fuhrer of Dorssia.

The other, Jeffry Anderson, the President of ARUS.

They are two most powerful person in the world… the world of men, that is.

"It's been 10 years since this council meet." Amadeus started. "I wonder is something wrong?"

"Spare us your façade of obliviousness, Amadeus." The head of the Council retorted.

"We've been made aware of your attack on Jior's Dyson Sphere."

"I believe this council was not supposed to interfere with the affairs of mankind?" Amadeus coldly replied.

"We do not, and we care not of your political agenda. However, a certain super weapon has come to our awareness. A weapon by the name of Valvrave. We've been given reports that said weapon utilize enormous amounts of runes. An amount impossible to be generated by normal human."

"Is it not possible that we human had started to discover Runes on our own?" Amadeus replied, still maintaining his calm.

"Not without an inside help from the Council, they cannot." The Council leader stated. "And have I not say to you to drop your pretentious obliviousness? We know everything, Amadeus. The VVV plan… the Earthborn Magius…"

Amadeus and Jeffry tensed.

"What nonsense is this? VVV plan? Earthborn Magius? What are those?"

The head councilor chuckled. "Enter!"

The door opened, and much to Amadeus' horror, his right hand man, Cain Dressel walked in and stands at the head councilor's side.

"It… can't be! Cain!?"

"Cain Dressel, your right hand man which helped you in your coup d'état has been a Magius for 10 years now." The Councilor smirked. "So let's stop the lies, shall we? We know Shashinami Ryuuji was the one who instigated this project. We know you are involved, Amadeus. You provided him the weapons and technology… though I wonder… Jeffry Anderson? Are you involved as well? A project like that will require astronomical funding…"

"If such huge numbers are being moved around, I would know, Councilor." Anderson gaped. "In fact… I didn't know Amadeus was involved… with Dorssia kept attacking that module. It was broadcasted day and night in our television."

"So I see." The Councilor looked at Amadeus pale figure. "We have to treat this as a class 3 Event, Amadeus. You know what that means? Mirko." 

One of the council members, the one named Mirko stand forth and opened his mouth, revealing fangs.

Amadeus paled. "W… Wait! Wait! Give me a chance to redeem myself!"

The head councilor raised his hand, and Mirko stopped.

"I will attack Module 77, with our entire force… we will destroy that module. And all Valvraves… and all existing Earthborn Magius aboard it! You have my word!"

"A word of a human. You have no idea, do you?" The Councillor seems more amused at the sight of a Fuhrer begging for his life. "Very well. But I still insist Mirko to join Cain to watch over you. When you fail and you probably will, Anderson… offer them sanctuary. Pressure them to hand over the Valvrave to you, and then deliver them to us. We will be watching. This meeting is adjourned."

Jeffry and Amadeus left the meeting room with 10 years of their lifespan shaved off.

When there's no one around to hear them, they began to whisper angrily with one another.

"Great. Now they know about our plan! All because of your greed and your blabber mouth! What were you thinking, talking about it to your right hand man!?"

"Spare me your sanctimonious bantering. You would've done the same. And I had no idea Cain was a Magius! What about your own administration?"

"You really gonna dump 20 years of our work down the drain?"

"There's no choice. It's okay. We're not licked yet. We don't need Ryuuji to finish this."

Meanwhile… back in the meeting room…

Cain looked at the door where the two heads of state had just left the room. "I was under the impression that you wouldn't let him off so easily. And Anderson obviously involved."

"Of course. Humans always band together. They speak one thing, but thinks another. They're pitiful that way." The Councilor chuckled. "We may still in need of him. He's a useful disposable pawn. Nevertheless, Mirko, infiltrate his closest circle. If he fails… or by some miracle he succeeded… you know what to do."

"Abandon mine old flesh, embrace the new one." Mirko bowed and left. Soon, the council disperses, leaving Kain and the Councilor. "The matter of this… Valvraves though… they trouble me… deeply." The head councilor murmured.

The Councilor opened a door behind him. It was a hall… with a long giant tapestry hung from the ceiling.

The Tapestry depicted 6 figures, arranged from top to bottom in a zig zag pattern.

At the very bottom center, a purple hooded grim figure, carrying a scythe, leading an army of rats that turned into bats

To its left top, a heavily armored archer, brandishing a crossbow, caped in a robe of blue scarabs.

Climbing right, a priest, lifting a massive staff, wreathed in golden lightning.

Right above the priest, a queen, sitting atop a throne of green spiders.

The tapestry area that depicted the second to last figure, standing side by side with the queen was torn though, leaving one shy of 6.

And at the very top…

A green eyed raven, bearing the scepter of kings, wreathed in gold and red flame…

"Cain… I have a mission for you."

**0000000000000000**

The Valvrave pilots looked like dead men walking when they walked out of that bizarre meeting. Yusuke's eyes looked dead, while Inuzuka Aina were figuratively dragging her feet, not sure where she's supposed to go. It's just… what the fuck? Their school life, a lie!? They get experimented on like some guinea pig… and to add insult to the injury, they brainwashed them so that they won't remember being experimented upon!? Nanami, who waited outside (much to her horror, as she was stuck with the leering eyes of the prisoners who were staring at her… particularly her breasts), would be lying to say if she wasn't concerned.

The only ones left in that room, was A-Drei, L-Elf, Ryuuji, Kibukawa, Haruto and Saki.

"But this is outrageous." A-Drei growled. "An alien secret society… ruling my country from the shadows? Even a Fuhrer is but a puppet in their hands?"

"This changes nothing, A-Drei."

"Oh, yes it does." A-Drei roared. "If these aliens are in anyway responsible for all the pain that my people had endured… I swear they will answer for this!"

"Doubtful." Ryuuji stated. "The Magius hardly care for the way humans does things. They only care that we provide them with constant supply of humans, so that they can drain their runes to sustain themselves."

"ALL THE MORE REASON!" A-Drei roared. "How can a ruler who think only himself and think nothing of its people rule justly!? How can a system designed to serve the people do what it was meant for if the maker are those who doesn't even know what it means to be one of the people!?"

Ryuuji blinked. "You talk as if you're a… royalty…"

A-Drei stopped and realized he said too much. "Excuse me." A-Drei suddenly got up and left the room in fury.

L-Elf then asked the most important question. "What are you going to do now? The Magius now knows about the Valvraves… and perhaps your Earthborn Magius as well. I don't think they'll take too kindly of this."

"They will exhaust their now useless pawn… Amadeus. You can no longer trust anyone from your own country, Mr. L-Elf. They may well be agents of the Magius, for all you know." Ryuuji stated. "One way to find out if one is a Magius or not is by putting a bullet in his mouth and see if the guy spit it out a minute later."

"Or just plant a cut on every person and see if they regenerate in an instant." Haruto stated.

"That's how we make sure no one is a Magius spy back in the day." Ryuuji nodded.

"Excuse me." L-Elf heard all he needed to hear and went on to put those suggestions into practice, much to Ryuuji's wonder. "Don't tell me you're going to cut every men and woman in this whole module right now?"

"Let him do it." Haruto gave a bored reply. "He once staged a one man Coup 'd'état, and he actually succeeded, believe it or not. Nicking everybody in a day should be easy enough."

L-Elf voiced his agreement with Haruto with a silent smirk, and then he left.

Ryuuji rolled his eyes. "You sure gathered some strange friends, Haruto." The Prime Minister suddenly came face to face as he looked at Haruto's dark glare. "Ah."

"Do you know what it's like to have 47 people's mind in your head? It's like having those 47 people clawing the insides of your brain, trying to dig their way out." Haruto glare darkened further. "and clawing, inevitably scrape the surface… revealing whatever's underneath."

Ryuuji sighed in exasperation. So he knows now.

"This is a question I cannot ask… not when Shoko was involved. Are you going to tell me… or not?"

"Kibukawa… leave us." Ryuuji motioned the wheel chaired Professor.

"Nanami-chan?" Kibukawa called. And then Nanami entered and quickly drag the professor out of the room. And when Nanami closed the door, Ryuuji quickly added. "Before we start… I think your girlfriend should leave. She might not like what-"

BANG! Saki banged the floor with her fist. "Anything that concerns Haruto… concerns ME! You'll have to KILL me to get me not to listen to this."

"She had the right." Haruto also answered. "I would go so far as to say, she has to hear this."

Ryuuji's eyes widened. These two… they really in love with each other… And more and more, Ryuuji deeply regretted what he had done.

"…absorbing the minds of 47 people into my head… had mess it up like nothing I've ever thought. All my memories were… chaotic. No sense of time… or identity. In the last several days, I was technically insane. But… I manage to somehow… classify my memories. Splitting them up and differentiating which was mine, which wasn't… I was afraid… that… I will lose some of my memories in the process." Haruto looked at Ryuuji. "And I THINK I did…but then… Suddenly… I realized as I trudged through my memories of my childhood… that there are some blanks in it. Like my father, my real parents… Perhaps that was the brainwashing you talked about. I remember all the time I spent together with Shoko… as childhood friends… But suddenly… I came to realize… why didn't I have any memories… that are without Shoko in it?" Haruto suddenly pointed out. "As close as I am to her… there's got to be a time where I wasn't with her… so why aren't there any? And why am I so different with the others? Not just the other students, the other Valvrave pilots. Saki never had the need to aggressively feed… and neither did Inuzuka-senpai and Yusuke."

Ryuuji didn't say anything.

"But when I fixed my memories after that feeding… I found some memories… some bizarre memories… I saw a machine… messing with my body… my brain… Just tell me what the hell happened to me?"

Ryuuji closed his eyes. "I always… dreaded the day that you will become a magius." 

"Why? Because of what I've done?"

"Because of what we've done to you." Ryuuji closed his eyes. "…we had… a disagreement. Your father and I." Ryuuji clasped her fingers together. "…I gave even my own daughter to this project… likewise, he willingly gave his son as well… but… your father has always been… more on the radical side. He experimented on you two using procedures that no human would allow."

"Two?"

"You **and** Shoko were different from the other children." Haruto looked at Ryuuji, and now he was glad Shoko was out of the room. "Other children were left to grow up in the natural environment, brought here after they reached a certain age. But you two… as you always had known, the two of you were raised HERE in this Dyson Sphere, since childhood."

Haruto and Saki don't like where this is going.

"For all intents and purposes… I was going to let you two grow up normally the same way like all other children. At least until a certain age was reached. Shoichi doesn't share my opinion. At first, he was concerned that when the time comes where we must take this project to the next level, we will not be ready, because we simply knew too little of a Magius' biology and what they can take and cannot take. And so with my blessings, he began to develop various kinds of experiments and tests. Many of them were barely legal. And he tested them… on Shoko and you… the breakthroughs made in that results were later used on other children."

Haruto gawked.

"But… somewhere along the line… Shoichi crossed the line. I didn't found out about this… until later. You two will not remember this. You were very young… and by that time… it was too late… both of you had… suffered a severe mental breakdown due to his tests. Shoko survived the ordeal but Haruto… you…"

Haruto held his breath.

"You actually **died, 5 years ago**."

Haruto and Saki's eyes widened. "What?"

"And not just dying for 20 to 30 seconds… you died for 3 days."

Haruto's breathing grew more elaborate as his chest hump up and down. "That's impossible! If I'm dead… then how-"

"Your father… did something to you." Ryuuji stated. "You were his son. And as such, he gave everything he's got when it comes to you. Whether it is some form twisted fatherly love or some megalomaniacal God Complex… I don't know. But he… I don't know what he did… but when you're alive… he tweaked you differently. When it finally killed you… he worked around the clock to bring you back… using methods that no father should've ever used on his son. On the third day, he managed to do the impossible…"

"He… brought me back from the dead?"

"Using Pino."

"Pino?" Haruto remembered the fairy like Magius.

"He bonded you with her. I don't know how he did it, but he managed to strike a deal with her. She brought you back from the dead in return for… well… whatever you have become now."

Haruto felt faint. He was dead!? So he was right… he's already dead! This body of his was not his…

"YOU'RE LYING!" Saki suddenly screamed. Her eyes burst into tears. "Where on earth have you heard that!? Bringing people back from the dead!? THIS ISN'T SOME SCI-FI MOVIE FLICK!" Saki quickly grab hold of Haruto's wrist, checking his warmth, his heartbeat. "Haruto's alive! Right here and now!"

"But he wasn't then. I don't recall a test subject as broken as him… when his father worked at him around the clock. Before he managed to perfectly resurrected Haruto for good, he literally jumped in and out of life and death multiple times, living for several seconds and then die, only to be resurrected again. When he finally did resurrect you for good… what he brought back to life was… a thing who no longer wanted to live."

Saki looked at Haruto… and then she remembered. Amongst the thing Haruto yelled was the plea: _"Let me die."_

"And perhaps we should've let you. The trauma you endure was… inhuman. Catastrophic neurological damage, you developed homicidal nature, cannibalistic compulsions, and suicidal tendencies… But we tried to give you your normal life back… we OWE you that much. So through the use of psychotherapy, hypnotic suggestions, and… using the prototype technology that we use to suck in specific runes, an earlier model that we used on other students… we took most of the worst memories… and we bury the rest with artificial but pleasant memories… to cap it off, we implanted… an affection to my daughter, Shoko, into you. To give you a reason to live again. We don't want you to return back into that… thing."

Saki looked at Haruto… he was completely shattered at this revelation. He weakly answered. "So… what am I now… Shashinami-san? What have my father done to me?"

Ryuuji was greatly shamed when he must answer: "I don't know."

Saki glared angrily at the Prime Minister. "Aren't you the head of this project!?"

"VVV project was an open book to me… but what Shoichi did to his own son… he never reported it to me. He lied to me. That's why I crucify him, and locked him away. Away from even his own child and his research… until he can tell me what he had done to Haruto. But… he never spoke of it."

Haruto could barely hear him anymore. His hands rummaged his head as he curled into a ball. His eyes looking at the ground, and it's not certain as to what exactly he's looking at as they are empty and lifeless.

Ryuuji closed his eyes, realizing he need to leave him alone. "There's nothing more I can tell you. I will leave now. Just… one thing."

Haruto lifted his head and looked at Ryuuji.

"You… are as much as a son to me… just as Shoko is my daughter. I'm not asking you to forgive me. For everything that has been done to you, you can hate me all you want, all your heart, spit on my grave… it's all well within your rights… but please… please don't hate Shoko… or the world for it. That's all I'm asking." Ryuuji bowed once and then he left the cage, leaving a devastated Saki and a shattered Haruto in that room.

**0000000000000000**

In the Potemkin hangar…

Yusuke and Inuzuka had somehow found their way to the hangar… where they saw their Valvraves 05 had been moved in, positioned to 03… and another unit, the 06, is already there. 01 and 04 is also there.

At first… they were hesitant. They've climbed unto that machines, thinking they know what they're in for… suddenly, they realized just how big of a price they've paid for it.

They've paid… too much.

And it was then that they noticed one person, standing atop the cockpit of unit 01.

Shashinami Shoko.

And to their horror, she just jumped in.

Yusuke and Inuzuka panicked. "SHOKO!"

They quickly and momentarily forget their horror as they are overwhelmed by an even bigger horror. The two quickly rushed towards unit 01. Alas, by the time they get there, Shoko has already shut the cockpit door. She turned on the machine… and… detecting an unregistered user, it asked the question again:

**Do you wish to resign your humanity, yes or no?**

"This… this is it, isn't it? Haruto faced a question like this too?" Shoko looked at the yes and no options. Those words seem magnified to her eyes. Her breathing grew more elaborate and paced. Swinging between aware and unaware, her trembling fingers moved to a yes…

"**So… it's a yes?" **

Shoko gasped when Pino suddenly appeared on the screen. "Y… You are?" 

"**Pino. At your service. So… you want to pick yes?"**

Shoko was initially startled, but she quickly recover. "If I pick yes… will I become like Haruto? A vampire that needs to feed on people to live?"

"**Vampire? Tee-hee…" **Pino chuckled. **"I read Bram Stoker online… humans really have interesting imagination. 'Vampire' eh? Well… if you want to call it that way…"**

"I know what you are!" Shoko barked. "You turned Haruto into a monster!"

Pino seem somewhat confused. **"Me? No, no, no. The Valvrave did it!"**

"DON'T LIE TO ME! MY FATHER told me everything! What was done to Haruto to everyone was only possible because of you!" 

"**All I did was to give the humans the genetic blueprint to create Magius. In return, they fix and modified my vessels, and I also gave them some consultations on how adapt the genetic blueprint to human DNA."** Pino was unfazed. **"And speaking of which… who's your father?"**

"My father. Shashinami Ryuuji. He told me you helped them make all this possible!"

"**Oh… you're his daughter? And your name would be… Shoko… yes? He told me a lot about you."**

"He did?"

"**Yes. Yes."** Pino nodded cheerfully. **"He always bragged how smart you are. How brave you are. He even showed me your photos when you were young. My, how you've grown."**

"You're lying." Shoko glared angrily at Pino. "You're LYING! If my father loved me, why did he do this to me! To the man I loved too! To Haruto! WHY!?" 

"**Haruto?"** Pino was still unfazed. **"But… didn't he choose yes out of his own free will?"**

"What?" 

"**The options, Shoko-chan. The options. Your father wanted me to install this feature, so that only people who are doing this on their own free will can do it."** Pino thought again. **"But… then again, when he came here… he was shouting something about revenge… for you… I think."**

Shoko's heart felt like they just stopped. "…what?"

"**I still have the video here…"** Pino opened the Valvrave archive and showed a video when Haruto first attempted to ride a Valvrave.

In the video, Shoko was shown on how Haruto desperately trying to activate the Valvrave. _"I need to do this for Shoko's revenge! PLEASE! ACTIVATE!"_

And then he finally did it, and two injectors pricked him by the neck, drawing blood… and the transformation occurred.

Shoko collapsed to the cockpit seat… completely devastated. "Haruto… Haruto did that… it was all for me…!?" Shoko cracked as her hands moved to cover her tears stricken face… and she finally cried in sorrow. "Haruto… Haruto… AAAAAAAAAARGGHHHHH!" and she cried for hours with her face buried on the monitor.

Pino looked at Shoko's grim stricken state with curiosity… and sympathy. **"Shoko…"**

**0000000000000000**

Inside the Dorssian maximum security cage, Haruto was still curling into a ball amidst that cage. Saki couldn't blame him. Seriously… the fact that every children on this school, herself included had been experimented upon is shocking enough… the fact that Haruto actually DIED in the process was…

"So… So I was right… I was already dead." Haruto clawed his hair violently.

"And you're alive now."

"Maybe I shouldn't have."

"What did you say!?" Saki suddenly barked.

"Maybe I should've died a long time ago!" Haruto grew more manic. "If I had died, none of this would've happened!"

Saki paused… and then her face was wrecked in terrible fury. "Haruto… look… what your father did was clearly proven he's off his bonkers. We know that… but that doesn't automatically make it your fault as well!"

"How is it not my fault? I started this! I boarded 01… and… and now, you, Inuzuka-senpai, Aina-chan, Yusuke… It's like I'm continuing on my father's work!"

"You boarded the Valvrave because Dorssia attacked us. You protected us!"

"Did I?" Haruto moaned. "Look at what happened! Dorssia kept attacking us, time and again. Each time it killed more and more of my friends!"

"If you DIED then… And how many would've died NOW if you weren't here to protect them?"

"But I keep hurting them too! I keep hurting Shoko… and I keep hurting…" Haruto slunk deep as the events that had played out… the brutal event that had happened between them in the last several days replayed in his mind. "Enough… I don't want to hurt anybody anymore…" And he whispered to himself. "I don't want to… hurt you… anymore…"

"Hurt… me?" Saki heard it. And she understood. "You mean when you raped me in the last few days because you lost your mind?" That's right. Discounting the whole… Haruto finds his long lost memory and all… there's an unspoken episode that they cannot utter to anyone back in that meeting. A few days ago, during the early times when Haruto was at his craziest.

**Flashback a few days ago…**

**Right after Saki found Haruto and brought him to the prison… JIOR prison…**

Haruto, carried over Saki's shoulders, looked at the mark on the wall of his previous cell, which showed the ineffectiveness of JIOR prisoner restraints. Saki suggested. "Then we'll put you in Dorssian prison. Maybe they'll have stronger restraints there."

Haruto and Saki decided to use the Valvraves to board the Potemkin. Saki didn't argue because… for a moment there… Haruto looked all the better. So much better in fact that he managed to convince her to let him pilot the Valvrave all the way to the Potemkin.

He was doing fine the first few miles… and then she heard shouting and screaming in her com, and Valvrave flight pattern, which should've been a straight flight, gone haywire.

Aboard the Potemkin, several of the freed hostages had decided to stay aboard the space cruiser as hangar crews as they began retrofitting the ship to accommodate the Valvraves. That was when they noticed 01's erratic flight pattern, and how, despite its chaotic flying, it grew steadily closer and closer… until finally…

"GET OFF THE RUNWAY!" the hangar crews float away in panic as 01 crashed landed violently across the launchpad before finally stopping when it collided with a pile of inactive Waffes.

The hangar crew looked angrily at 01, questioning what sort of blinkered maniac was at the helm. To their surprise, that blinkered maniac was no other than the main pilot himself. But given his current state, everyone agreed that he was anything but sane.

Haruto jumped away from 01 and after giving everyone a wild crazed look, he ran off just as Carmilla landed in a gentler, more appropriate manner. "HARUTO!" Saki yelled as soon as she got out of the cockpit. Haruto walked haphazardly, his eyes seem dazed and he kept holding on to his head. Until he finally fell to his knees and seemingly fainted then and there, just as she feared. Saki quickly rushed to his side and upon checking his condition and realize that nothing is okay, she barked. "HEY! WHERE'S THE PRISON!?"

Fortunately, Dorssia does have sturdier restraints. Saki put Haruto inside a maximum security prison with strait jackets and iron straps. Against his wishes to be left alone, Saki insisted that she stay at his side. Giving him the therapy needed by way of singing, in order to keep him sane. Haruto finally allowed it under one condition; she must never take off his restraints, for whatever reason.

Day 1, was quite… trying for Saki. Haruto wouldn't stop screaming. Worse, he was overwhelmed by suicidal impulses (now she knew why). He kept trying to bang his head to a wall multiple times. Her song seems ineffective. Only managing to keep him sober for seconds. But she managed.

Day 2, Haruto made tremendous progress. Only occasional bouts… but Saki can actually spend time chatting with Haruto, and even her song was not needed either.

Day 3… Saki was quite confident of Haruto's condition. They were able to chat and talk calmly. But she still doesn't want to leave him behind… but they are running out of food. So she decided to stretch her leg for that day, getting an update on the situation on the Module while grabbing something tasty for Haruto. She left while he slept, leaving a small memo so that he won't panic.

And she did some stretching. Took her long overdue shower, take off that awfully uncomfortable pilot suit (a bit tight around the chest), putting on her almost forgotten civilian dress… a rather open dress. But she thought it might be a good idea to dress up in front of Haruto, if not to impress him then maybe to tease him… as she does want to look pretty for him. She meets up with people… even attending that icy lecture with that one eyed Dorssian agent, A-Drei, for the sheer heck of it. She spent almost a whole day in the module, relaxing, having fun… That's when she realized she got carried away and she almost forgot about Haruto. Almost. She came back in the evening in a hurry, bringing lots of food, wearing the cutest and sexiest dress she had in her wardrobe. She was hoping to find Haruto smiling weakly at him when she showed up, and then she can have fun teasing him.

What she found was Haruto on the floor, frothing and gasping with the room looked like they were being ripped apart inside out, most of his restraints were ripped off, but he was still tied down… though his twitching mouth was foaming, and his eyes rolled backwards.

What happened can be blamed with how she break her promise not to let him go no matter what happened. But if you saw the love of your life lying face down on the floor and comatose with restraint jacket making him hard to breathe, releasing him seems like the best idea of the day.

Today… she could probably say that was indeed the best idea she had all day.

But she doesn't really think so when it first happened.

As soon as he was free, Haruto's markings appeared and he pushed her down. "Haruto! What are you doing!?" at first she tried to struggle, her legs jerking and swinging, struggling in vain to get away under his weight.

"**GRAARGH! GRAAAHHH!"** His eyes were feral and desperate. His fangs protruding and he's clawing at her like a beast. Ignoring everything else, her hands clawed into Saki's clothes, and before she can stop him, he tore the flimsy dress apart, revealing her bra. And it was then Saki realized what Haruto is going to do. He ripped open her bra, and beheld her beautiful, well formed breasts. Saki watched helplessly as the blank red eyed Haruto viciously bite and sucked her supple nipples, while his hands continue to violently rip apart whatever modesty she had left, one piece at a time. Saki tried to resist… but she felt powerless, even after Haruto finally tear apart her underwear and now in the process of removing his own.

"H… Haru… to…"

When she first saw its size… she shrieked. She had heard this rumor about how monstrous Haruto's 'third leg' is… BUT what is that!? He… he's gonna shove that… that thing into her… he's going to break her! "No… Nooo!" Saki cried as she suddenly found her strength and pushed the crazed Haruto off her. Saki quickly run away scared towards the door, but then she gasped in horror as she can feel the iron hard grip from Haruto reached her ankle, causing her to fall and closed the door shut instead of opening it. "No! HAruto! NO NO! NOT…" Haruto pulled her back and finally ripped the last of her impressive dress, rendering her fully naked. And then she finally felt it rubbing her now completely exposed womanhood… "Haruto… not… like… this…" She loved him. She would love to do this with him… but not like this…

But Haruto didn't seem to care and then the inevitable thrust came in, violently so, and she screamed when she felt something was ripped. "AAAAAARGGHHH!" One of his hands clawed into her breast, violently messaging, squeezing it as if he desperately wanted something to come out of it, and while his other hand clawed desperately at her lower waist to prevent her from getting away and to thrust into her deeper. In fact Haruto's nails actually sank and clawed deep into her flesh, much to a screaming and crying Saki's pain. Even worse when they are coupled with how violent Haruto was pounding her from behind, drawing blood that trickled allover her beautiful body, mixing with blood trickling from her torn virginity.

As they do this, trickles of green energy began to flow around their skin.

"Ah… Ah… Ahiih! NAh! AHAH!" Saki squealed again and again… but then the pain began to dissipate… and replaced by this… feeling that grew bigger and bigger with each motion: pleasure… mind shattering pleasure. She cried and shouted, her mind was so lost, her hands holding on to the door so hard until her nails clawed it down… trying to do anything to make sense of this… indescribably good feeling. But eventually, the pain hasn't gone entirely, but Saki gave in to the pleasure. Haruto pulled her back into a standing up position, hugging, and clawing her body even tighter as he pierced her even deeper, earning another squeal. But this time, Saki didn't resist anymore. Not even when Haruto grasped her breast and pulled it up so that he can suck on it from behind. In fact, she began to actively moved her hips up and down like there's no tomorrow. Sweat pouring out of the two teens like flood, dampening the floor below them. But they don't care.

As their lust grew, the green light grew larger and brighter, enveloping the two. The particles of light began to dance and formed flowing streams of light that engulf them both, curtaining the two lust maddened couple… both were too overwhelmed by the pleasure of their activity to notice what happened around them.

"This… ah! is… Ahiih! a curse…!? Ah! Ah!" she muttered weakly.

Her limp weak hand moved and grasped Haruto's head, pulling him away from her bouncing breasts. She smiled and then brought his lips to hers with her hand holding on to his head, their tongue wrestling furiously with one another. Finally, Haruto's grunts and growls grew faster, and Saki also felt something is building up… "Ah… ah… ah…" something that is ready to explode. Their lips finally let go as their sensual movements grew more violent and faster. "Ahh..! Ahhh!... AHh! AHH!" But for Saki, the pounding mind blowing pleasure is also growing bigger and bigger. "Ah!Ah!Ah!AH! AAARGH! HARUTO! HARUTO! I! AH!" She's about to reach the epicenter of the critical point. "AH! AH! AH! AH! GRGHH! AaH! AAAH! AAAAAH! AAAAAHHH!" And it's driving her insane.

And then finally… they did it. Saki screamed her lungs out when she felt something spill from her womb, and something hot flooded in, overflowing past the seams. The pleasure was beyond what her mind can handle… and then…

"GRAAAAAAARGHH!"

At the peak of their mutual pleasure, Haruto, completely maddened… either by curse or lust, bit her in the neck. He bit her so violently, his fangs sank deep… deeper than he's ever been and blood gushed out of wound. But Saki felt no pain. No. Quite the opposite. She felt pleasure. When Haruto bit someone, he could either: suck the consciousness out of a victim until the victim dies or transfer his consciousness to overtake the victim. In the latter case, it seems it can also be used to transfer sensation… whatever sensation he's feeling right now. And that is exactly what he's doing to Saki. When he bit her, she felt everything that Haruto was feeling at the moment of climax: his unbridled animalistic lust… and the immeasurably pleasure of doing it with her.

Saki's eyes rolled backwards as she felt her mind shattered beyond recovery when the doubled sensation bombarded her senses and her foaming jaw opened slack in disbelief. Disbelief that something so good is actually humanly possible. But… they're not human anymore, so yeah… this is quite humanly impossible. Saki's body went rigid as her back arched and kept hanged there, pierced by Haruto, while his fangs were still sank deep into her neck. But something else happened. The light streams that engulfed the two now sip into her body, coruscating across her twitching naked body until they finally slunk into the place where Haruto's fang pierced her flesh.

When the light was gone, Haruto let go, and Saki fell on the floor, face down, mouth foaming in insane smile having endure a pleasure no human had ever tasted. She can also feel white hot liquid spilling out in-between her legs. A small green glowing web like markings appeared right on the spot where Haruto bit her… and then it disappeared.

'If this is a curse…' Saki smirked in her swings between consciousness and unconsciousness, sanity and insanity… 'I'll gladly bear it for eternity…'

And much to Saki's pleasure… this was not the last.

Haruto's unstable condition continued for days. It seems every time whatever's causing Haruto pain reached its very threshold, he went berserk, and reduced to an animalistic instinct. At first, she wondered what would happened if she left him alone. At first… that's exactly what she did. She left him alone and then she consulted to a being she thought could help.

"You know anything about this?" Saki consulted Pino. She had the knowledge on how to deal Inuzuka-senpai's condition… so she correctly deduced she would know. And she did. Regrettably, she doesn't make it easy for Saki (who had yet to understand a thing about Runes and Magius at the time) to absorb what she says."

"**I see… I see…" **Pino nodded several times. **"Judging by the way you describe it, Haruto showed symptoms of Rune Overload."**

"Rune… Overload." Saki repeated. (Dumbly.)

"**Rune Overload is a very common symptom that happens to young Magius who had eaten too much Runes in too short of a time."** Pino explain short.

"You're saying he fucked me senseless because he ate too much?"

"**Haruto is still a very young Magius, albeit a very powerful one, I grant you. He fed on… over 40 people, you say? Well… I already told him that he need to catalogue his memory… dividing which one is his memory, which one isn't. But his body clearly cannot yet maintain such huge amount of runes that he had drained. He needs to transfer it to another person, else his body will be broken down, inside out. His survival instinct subconsciously realized this… and right now its defense mechanism as a Magius went active: he'll try to desperately transfer some of that excess rune to another host that can help him kept his Rune level in check… I guess in this case, he chose you. Rune transfer is most efficient when done through exchange of fluids and bodily substances. Humans have that activity right? You know… those things that come out from those ball things on the groin into the slit of a female…"**

"…you mean sex?" Saki doesn't understand this Rune thing and Magius and all… but she get the point. "Look… I don't mind… he's doing it to me…" He quickly added under her breath (and it felt good) "But don't you… Magius…whatcallit… don't you develop any other… more… gentler method?"

"**Well… I don't know how you humans do it and why you do it. Really. For us Magius, Rune Transfer is something ve~ery simple. We touched and that's it. What's more, where I came from, hatchling creation doesn't seem to be a very tiring activity for us… doesn't seem to be so much fun either…" **Pino quirked, and Saki rolled her eyes. **"Gender is something quite alien for us. We don't fully understand the need to separate gender of male and female. But still… from I gather, human Magius actions are gender specific. If you are male… then he'll probably just try to bit you, ferociously and repeatedly. But you are a female. And when Haruto was reduced to a feral state, his hormones are raging out control. When faced against an attractive opposite sex, male will instinctively try to mate with you. It doesn't matter, the point is, Haruto needs to transfer all that excess runes to another vessel, else he'll explode. But… I don't see what's the problem is. You did have sex with him before, did you?" **

"What?"

"**I still had the picture! See!?"** And Pino showed the picture when Saki kissed Haruto for the first time.

"That's not sex."

"**Really? I was told sex always started with that…"**

"Young lady… when this is done… you and I gotta talk."

When she came back to the cage, to her horror, she finds out that, left to his own devices, a berserk Haruto was in so much pain that he would desperately banged his head to a wall, literally denting it and caused his head to nearly split open. Of course, his immortal nature means he'll survive… but after witnessing that, Saki vowed to never let it happened again. Better she let him raped her senseless, bite her to her very bones than to watch him try to kill himself.

Saki even took to confine herself inside that cage, ready to receive whatever a berserk Haruto will throw at her next. Their mating was violent, with much blood were spilled-from both sides… but their immortality regeneration power ensured they're ready for another violent mating within minutes. Saki had even opted to forgo clothing entirely inside that room and spend most of the time naked around him, much to Haruto's embarrassment (when he was sane). But as time went on, Saki came to realize, when she became able to maintain her thoughts during another biting – and climaxing, that this was not as it seems. It was not his usual seizure. It was something else entirely. For a start, she began to realize that Haruto's biting of her in each intercourse was not to suck something… it was to transfer something in. What's more, the frequencies of their… sessions are decreasing at a rapid pace. In the beginning they do it 3 times every session, at 4 sessions a day… then twice each 3 times a day… and then once, twice a day… and recently only once a day, owing to the fact that Haruto grew saner and saner as the time went by.

**Flashback ends…**

**Now…**

"Hurt me? You? Now that, Tokishima Haruto, is what I call insulting!"

"E… Eh?" Haruto blinked. Saki suddenly sounded… angry…

"You sir, have NO idea what it means about getting hurt! W… Who are you!? Forget your nutjob of a father… You grew up in a nice neighborhood… your childhood sweetheart and her daddy liked you so much, you're as good as his son… and he happens to be the PRIME MINISTER for cryin' out loud! Your life was as good as made even before all this crap happened!"

"…"

"Haruto…" Saki sighed. "…my mother tried to kill me from the day I was inside her womb. Alcohol, drugs, pregnant prostitution… she wants me to die before I even draw breath! When that didn't work and I became a rising idol… she tried to sell me into an Adult Video. My loser of a dad left my mom… and left me alone to cope with her increasing insanity and die in the gutter. I had to work with sweat, blood, and tears for every bit of happiness I get! And then this VVV project came along and snuffs it all away in a heartbeat! Hurt? HURT!? I watched my life's work crumbled to nothingness because of that stupid project, even before I became a Vampire!" Saki grew angrier by the minute. "And let's not forget: YOU raped me! You raped me for days! Sometimes you even do me in my sleep so violently until I went wide awake screaming! So don't you dare talk to me about getting hurt you beast! Talking to me about getting hurt! You don't even know the meaning of the word! Don't underestimate me, Tokishima Haruto!"

Inside… Haruto curled himself even deeper into a ball. "B… But… But I still… hurt you… Just… leave me… alone… I…"

"You still talk like that you… wait…" And then… Saki's tone suddenly changed again. "Wait… I get it now…" Her voice trembled. "That's all I am to you, right? Just… a replacement for her! You thought with you being monster and all, and so you can't be with Shoko, you make do with me who happens to be a monster too!?" She was on the verge of crying.

"What? No…! wait…!"

"And now you realized she can be like you too, she can be the same as you, and so you can go back to her!?" Saki's voice trembled to a rage. "Oh it all makes sense now isn't it!? I'm just a bed warmer for you! Someone to took care of your burning loin until you can leave me behind and dump me like I'm a disposable condom!"

"NO! NO! IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!" Now Haruto panicked for an entirely different reason. Saki's voice is cracking into cries.

"FINE! DUMP ME! GO BACK TO SHOKO-SAN! THAT'S WHAT YOU WANTED ISN'T IT!? THAT'S WHAT THEY MAKE YOU DO ANYWAY! GOOD BYE TOKISHIMA HARUTO!" And then Saki quickly open the door and left the cage. Her footsteps indicates that she's going away.

"WAIT!" That was the last straw. Haruto finally breaks out of his stupor and run towards the prison door as fast as he could. As soon as the door opened, he quickly screamed: "SAKI! It's not like that at all-mmmrrmph!?" 

His scream was cut short as soon as Saki's lips covered his, with her arms hugging the back of his head, pushing his face deeper until it touched hers. Haruto blinked several times, not understanding what happened… not one bit. Meanwhile, Saki's tongue took the liberty to push past his lips and played with his.

"Wfa… Swaki? Hwat…?" Haruto blinked several times as he mumbled while Saki's tongue rummaged his mouth. "I thought you were leaving…"

Saki's lips pulled apart from Haruto's leaving behind a trail of saliva. "Ba~aka. That last ones were a lie, you know?" She smiled sweetly. "Or did you forget I'm a super star idol? Changing the tone of my voice is an ABC for an actress."

"Boy, you're good." Haruto dumbly stated.

She gave him one more naughty smile and pushed Haruto back into the cage, and then she entered it herself and locked the door from inside.

Once inside, Saki wasted no time to fell right on top of the downed Haruto, kept him pinned down as she hungrily devour his lips. Her tongue entered his mouth and Haruto instinctively had to play along. Though right now, Saki held dominance. But she parted and she erotically stick her tongue out seductively at Haruto, letting her saliva dripped over his lips. Causing Haruto to blush furiously. But she wasn't done. She started licking him… teasing him… gently… slowly… wetting his features with her saliva, as if marking him as her possession. The smell of her face mixed with the sensation of her drool was intoxicating. Haruto couldn't resist and his mouth hung open in ecstasy.

But then she momentarily stopped as Saki lovingly rubbed Haruto's cheek. "Haruto… you are the reason… that I haven't cracked after so much bad things happened to me. When… when you volunteered to go into this damn ship alone to take it all by yourself… do you have any idea how scared I was? You will be here… the whole time you will be here." Saki pointed at her ears. "And I was going to hear you die. That's what you made me do. You're about to make me hear your last voice on earth."

"S… Saki…" Haruto moaned. "Saki… I… I… didn't mean… to hurt you-AH!"

"Hurt me?" Saki cut him short with a sensual lick to his ears. "Hurt me?" She even took a nibble before she licked it again, much to Haruto's shock. "You nearly ripped my heart out." She kissed his ear again, earning another gasp. And then she kissed him again, and again, trailing towards his open aghast mouth, and then she shoved her tongue in as their lips meet again. Saki poured her drool into Haruto's gargling mouth, forcing him to drink it. After a while, their lips parted again and Saki looked lovingly at Haruto… who looked like he's about to reach his limits. "You hurt me… too many times… especially in the last few days." As she said this, Saki began to take off her pilot suit, opening the upper portion of said suit until she's wearing only a blue shirt waist up. And even with that, Haruto can easily see her beautiful figure behind that shirt. "The worst part is… you think you can get away with it… you didn't let me pay you back and hurt you too." Saki seductively and purposefully moved her groin to lay on top of Haruto's. She can feel it bulging beneath his suit. "So now… I'm going to hurt you." She smiled seductively again and grabbed the collar of her shirt and tear it open, revealing her left neck, her shoulder, and a good part of her cleavage, its modesty dangling by her nipples. "After all… I owe you… for this…" As she said this, green glowing scars appeared on the left part of her neck, extending up to almost reached her eyes… who began to glow green.

Haruto gasped. Upon seeing that mark… he can feel his own mark is appearing, and his eyes heating up, a sign it's starting to turn red as well.

Saki chuckled seductively as she sensually and happily showed the green scars on the left side of her neck. It appeared right after their first sex… its size was no bigger than a mole… and then with each session..., it grew and spread… now its size rivaled the one that began to appear on Haruto's face. "Last time… you said one more…" She chortled. "I distinctly recalled… you said… one more time… riii~ight?"

"I… said that?" Haruto gasped. "Wait! I don't remember I said that!?"

"No~ooo." Saki didn't bother removing the already torn shirt, she tear it open, revealing her beautiful, beautiful naked upper body. "You said… one… more… time…" Saki's seductive voice trailed to a whisper as she closed Haruto's fidgeting lips with her own. Haruto fretted. Oh yes. This is completely different with all those time he was out of control. This time he can feel Saki's warming up breasts smothering his chest. He can taste her hot saliva dripping sensually down into his throat. He can smell the scent of her sweat, her paced breathing blowing from her nose against his lips. He can hear the sound of their lips and tongue smacking with each other… the stifling of her arms undoing his clothes… and her eyes… God help him… her intoxicating beautiful violet eyes seamlessly shifting into bright green… and his eyes are slowly seeing red. All his five senses are now going 'against' him… It is but a matter of time before his curse took over and he… **they**'ll be reduced to animals in heat.

She suddenly parted, smacking her salivating lips. "No~o… it won't be that easy… I want to hurt you… more…" She looked lovingly at Haruto completely disheveled and flustered face. "Payback ti~ime…!" She looked down and saw that Haruto's groin is bulging painfully. "Uhh… that looks painful… but… no can do!" And then she happily undid Haruto's upper pilot suits… just his upper pilot suit. The two teens are now naked waist up, but their tight pilot suit still covers their lower area. Saki was back to kissing, licking and nibbling at Haruto's exposed upper body: his face, his lips, his neck, his lips, his throat, his lips, his chest, his lips again… his body is already wet with her saliva, and the sweat from her hot body smothered with his as well. Each kiss, each bite, each caress drove him nuts… while the pain on his loin kept him sane.

And yet the worst part was the rubbing down his loin. He can feel it. It's bulging against the 'freakishly tough' pilot trousers, painfully squeezing his' tight. Well… they were made to increase the survivability of the pilot in extreme combat, so yeah they were supposed to be tough. Saki knew this. Which is why her hip is furiously swaying back and forth, rubbing their lower area against each other at rapid pace, stimulating him like crazy. She was already gushing and bulging herself, but no… She wants him to hurt more. Oh yes. Saki is enjoying this sweet, sweet payback. She's been patiently enduring (and taking no small amount of enjoyment) of berserk Haruto's pounding… all for the sake of a chance of taking her payback on her beloved sweet and sane Haruto. And she's gonna take her time…

Haruto couldn't take it anymore. The markings on his head briefly appear and he momentarily let it overtake him… but then he realized his hands can't move. "!?" His hands were tightly bound by his pilot suit, courtesy of Saki's naughty hands and distracting kisses and licks. His sanity returned and with it, Haruto looked at Saki smirking, smacking his lips. "Oh no… you don't get to fall into the curse this time~e!" fact is… it seems Saki is allowing her curse to engulf her, given how the green web like markings appeared brightly on her white skin, and her now insane eyes glowed green. And she kept kissing Haruto again and again in such a way, each kiss cause him to wince and fell further into heat… Haruto even suspect that it possess aphrodisiac properties… judging by how each kiss made him wanted so badly to grab her and tear her a new one… but this damn tough pilot suit tied his arms tight. How did she do this without him realizing it… god… she's such a good kisser…

This torment went on and on for what seems like forever… and when Saki finally pulled away, there isn't a single part of Haruto's now sticky upper body that she hadn't teased, kissed, and licked senseless. Haruto pant and gasp… barely conscious, but his mind can now think nothing but to release these damn restraints and fuck her silly. He went into seizures several times throughout the process, but for the first time in the long time… these seizures felt torturously good… And then Saki began teasingly unbuckle her belt… and much to Haruto's horror, she took off her pants, standing completely nude before him, causing his burning loin to hurt even worse and swell even bigger. Haruto even feared it might get bent at this rate. Haruto pleadingly looked at Saki, hoping some mercy.

"Saki… please…"

"Oh no. You remember when you attacked me in my sleeping bag? I was asleep, and you ripped into my sleeping bag. I was trapped in a sleeping bag when you fuck my brains out from the front! A sleeping bag! Haruto! A sleeping bag! So no. I'm gonna make you 'suffer' in revenge of my favorite sleeping bag and my pajamas… and all my torn clothes."

Lord help him. Days of brutally pounding the hell out of his lover had made her a sadistic pervert. She turned around, briefly showing her sexy backside before she pressed her groin to his mouth, shaking her waist back and forth, rubbing his mouth, smothering it wet. And as for her mouth… she happily, and sadistically, sensually licked, teasingly kissed and sometimes bites his bulging groin with her lips. Haruto squirmed and grumbled against her gushing wet groin, his body whimpered and his legs trashed violently, but Saki held on to it tight. Just when he thought his loin couldn't hurt anymore than it already has.

However, too much of this had finally pushed Haruto beyond even his inhuman limit, and as mentioned before, these two couple are no longer human. Red markings appeared over his head and his eyes glowed red. Haruto whimpers turned into growls, and before long, it turned into a roar.

R…. RIIIPP! The tough pilot suit that bind Haruto's arm together was finally ripped apart. And with his hands are free, at last, Haruto grabbed Saki's waist, and tossed her to the side, causing her to fell on her back, revealing her whole forward body in all its naked glory. Saki squealed happily. This is what she was waiting for. The moment where they'll go absolutely crazy. Saki also no longer held her curse's sway, and let it overwhelm all her human sanity. Her green mad eyes soon locked with a pair of equally insane red ones. They're not Tokishima Haruto and Rukino Saki anymore. They're just two animals in heat. Male and female wanting to mate. BAD.

Haruto lunged at her and their hungry mouths devoured one another, tongue battling for dominance, saliva pouring, flooding into each other's mouths. Their arms sling over one another, their nails clawing, earning scratches and some trickling blood, which they hungrily licked. Haruto clawed her breasts, twisting and playing with her nipples. Saki rubbed his bulging manhood. As they did this, streams of energy began to flow. Red and gold from Haruto, green and gold from Saki. Unlike before, the energy, the Runes, no longer trickle… they flow out like rivers, encircling the two teens in heat. And then came the moment. Haruto impatiently tried to remove this restrictive clothing that covered his lower half. Saki also helped him. The two succeeded in tearing the last garment that covered Haruto's modesty apart, and without further ado, the male entered the female. Saki's back arched when she felt the deep strong thrust piercing through until her womb felt the jerk. Her eyes rolled upward in ecstasy and her salivating tongue sticks out and then she began to squeal and gargle. "AAARGH! Aah! AhAh! AH!"

Their sweating bodies glued with one another as they moved up and down, mouth desperately and hungrily engulfing one another. And as the two joined as one, so did their runes, merged together into golden streams of light that caress and enveloped their bodies… tying them together. At this phenomenon, Saki gasped just as Haruto gawked. Suddenly, they can feel what each other was feeling. There's pleasure, yes. But unlike the raw unfeeling pleasure they felt before, there's much emotion imbued in this pleasure. One more deep thrust and Saki fell to her back and Haruto followed her as he lay over her, their body motion intensified. The markings on their faces had also changed color… no longer the contrasting red and green… but one united color of gold. Haruto looked at Saki, Saki looked at Haruto. Their hearts and minds suddenly become one. "Haruto… My Haruto…" She loved him… and now he realized, he loved her too. "Saki… Saki…" They smiled. This is what they both wanted. Saki caressed Haruto's cheek, and Haruto smiled as he brought his head down and they kissed. Their swaying intensified, Saki's legs tightened her hold over Haruto's thrusting waist… their fingers clasped together tightly, not wanting to let go…

And finally, with one final thrust, both screams in ecstasy, as the heat exploded and released in Saki's womb… a heat intensified by the glowing golden light that enveloped them. It connected and united their hearts, body, and soul… until it finally dispersed into sparks of light when they climaxed together.

Haruto fell right next to Saki, both panting, the pleasure didn't fade… the feelings… carved into their soul. But instead of dying down, their passion burgeoned out of control, their lustful desire for each other gushing out. Haruto looked at Saki, and beheld her dazed but hungry expression. They're far from done. They want more… Saki's breasts were squeezed deep by Haruto's chest as their mouths melded and Haruto's hip keep going in and out of hers uncontrollably… more… Saki humped up and down on top of Haruto even though they've been drenched by all sorts of liquid now… more… Haruto groaned as he pounded for the final time into the now downed and utterly mind broken as well as completely drenched Saki, unleashing everything, much to her pleasant scream…

And they still want more…

**0000000000000000**

Hours later…

Haruto rested with his back against the cold hard cell and Saki resting her head on Haruto's bare chest, lying on top of his naked figure. They were both still naked and sticky, with only a small blanket covering a small part of their modesty. They've torn every muscle strands on their hip and waist, and now they're resting, waiting for their regenerative power to do the job. Haruto's eyes glows red with the blood red markings of scratches, and Saki with her verdant green glow on her eyes, and a spider web like pattern glowing on her left neck.

"All things considered… I think Pino had a seriously wrong idea about how things work on earth. Really, we need to sort that out one day." Saki remembered the time she talked to Pino about Haruto's condition, and how nonchalant she was about the fact that Haruto had just raped her. Given the fact she doesn't mind, she's in no position to argue.

"Hah." Haruto chuckled.

"Haruto?"

"You know… before all this, I thought the weirdest thing that can happen to me was… when I was asked by Inuzuka-senpai to buy some of his stock for wooden legged crickets." Haruto looked at his hand. "And now we're talking about… Runes, Magius… aliens? And I'm getting afflicted by a medical disorder that no human would ever understand."

"You feel weird?"

"I'm just saying… I think it's time we face the facts." Haruto sighed. "L-Elf was right. I'm not human anymore. I'm… something else. And there's no going back. The human me died a long time ago. Now I have to live with it, as a Magius. Forever." Haruto looked at Saki. "I will need to talk to Pino. I need her to teach us all how to live as a Magius. What about you?"

Saki smiled as she kissed Haruto and then hugged him lovingly. "I don't mind living in this world till the end of eternity… as long there's you in it."

"But… what Ryuuji-san said… my father… did this to me… to us… what if…" Saki placed a pair of fingers at Haruto's lips.

"Haruto, you're making me angry again." Saki pouted. "…will you stop beating yourself up over this? So your father's a mad man. He made you… like that. If you don't like it, you can prove him wrong. Be something more than what he wanted you to become. That's why I so aspire to become an idol, see?" Saki tucked her forehead to Haruto's. "My mom was unstable… my dad was a drunkard. Not the kind of parentage that can qualify for a cheerful future. But I didn't give up. I decided to move up… being an idol… so that one day, they look up… and they saw me in billboards and movie posters… and they'll found out what they're missing. My way of teaching them a lesson."

And Haruto couldn't help not to admire Rukino Saki. She has a strong heart, and the determination to carry through with whatever path she set herself upon. "But now… you're cursed too… Those markings… those eyes…"

"You gave it to me. And I will love you all the more because of it." Saki lovingly caressed her new gifts. "I don't mind being Magius… or whatever. In fact I'm very grateful for it now. Enough to thank your father for his trouble of bringing you back from the dead." Saki smiled sweetly at Haruto. "I get to meet you. Of course after that I'm gonna beat the snot out of him for doing all this awful things to my beloved Haruto."

Haruto looked at Saki, and she smiled as she kissed him again deeply. When they parted, Haruto sighed in content, but he's still in deep thought. "…we need to… see the others… the other pilots… and Shoko too."

"…" Saki smile faltered a bit.

Haruto understood why. "Saki… I love you. I understand that now. But… you know I loved Shoko too. I don't care if my affection was implanted for the sake of mental stability or whatever… it was real for me… but…" Haruto quickly grabbed Saki and kissed her again. Saki joyfully enjoyed this kiss. "…but I love you now. I want to spend my life with you… but to get us anywhere… I need to… let some things go… otherwise… I'll never move forward, not if I want to go there together… with you."

To Saki, nothing matters anymore. Upon hearing that proclamation from Haruto, her joy knows no bounds. She loved him and he loved her back, and he wanted to spend an eternity with her. That was more than she could've asked for. "You do… what you have to, Haruto."

They kissed again. A bit longer this time.

And then when she parted, they realized their waist had healed. They can walk up again. But Haruto had thought to put some clothes on first… until he saw the mangled remains of his supposedly tough pilot suit. "…you… brought any spares?"

Saki paused and looked at Haruto's naked form… "…remind me again to bring spares the next time you're about to have a nervous breakdown."

"I distinctly recall somebody tie me up with it before she mercilessly torture me senseless!"

"And I distinctly recall somebody tear it to pieces in his zeal to nail me up six ways to Sunday!"

Both sighed. Saki stated. "Luckily my clothes are still intact. I'll go outside and see if I can borrow some clothes." Saki was about to do that… until she get another glimpse of Haruto's monstrosity beneath the blanket. She blushed. "…after… we do it… one more time… I think."

"Again!?" Haruto gaped. "You said 'one more time' three 'one more time's ago!"

"That's why…" Saki began rubbing it again with her hand, her lips approaches. "Just one… more… time… okay? Besides… if I recall… I never get to use this…" the still curse afflicted Saki sensually pointed at her cute salivating open mouth… with fangs protruding and all…

And Haruto came to the conclusion: Vampires and blowjobs don't mix.

Too late, mouth opened up… and swallow.

**0000000000000000**

**An hour and half later… give or take a few 'one more times'…**

Back in Module 77 hangar…

Haruto, now dressed in the white of Dorssia (ones that Saki stripped from one of the prisoners) and Saki in her pilot suit is showing the bewildered hangar crew the torn remains of his suit.

"We designed this thing for the extreme combat endured by Valvrave pilots. They're durable, tough as nails… and you two jokers rip right through it!? What on earth were you two doing?"

"Well… this and that." A blushing Haruto answered.

"This and that." A blushing Saki echoed.

The hangar crew shook his head. "Oh well. Fine. We got spares… but… come to think of it, we have a prototype specialized pilot suit that we can…urm… you should ask the prime minister first."

"Where is he?"

**Not long after… in Akira's shack…**

Ryuuji is standing in front of Akira's shack. The blast door was still closed, with the prime minister kneeling right in front of it, trying to find a way through.

"Shashinami-san?"

Ryuuji saw Haruto and Saki approached him. "Haruto-kun."

Haruto looked at the closed door of Akira's shack. Ryuuji nodded. "She's in here. And she refused to speak to anyone. Especially me."

Inside, Akira looked with concern at Shoko, who had mimicked her panicked state by curling herself into a ball. She came to her crying, and there she stayed, crying for hours. She's still fidget every now and then, but she remained where she is.

"…" Haruto stood at the web cam over Akira's Shack's door. "…Shoko? Shoko it's me."

Shoko gasped. "Haruto…?"

**0000000000000000**

Moments later…

Haruto and Shoko stood on the railings at the roof of the school, watching the artificial sun set.

"You alright?" Haruto started.

"Hey… Haruto…"

"Hm?"

"You remember… when we plan to run away… and we ended up in a cave?"

"…"

"My memory says… you wanted to elope with me. You remember that?"

"Yes."

"…that was fake wasn't it?" Haruto looked at Shoko, her face cracking. "I don't know anymore… Haruto… everything is so… messed up… all of this…" She fell and her black slide down the railings as she sat on the floor, burying her head in her knees. "What is real, what is fake!?"

Haruto sighed. "…no. That wasn't a fake." Haruto added. "We really did ran away. We even plan on eloping. We get stuck in that cave… and play house to waste time." Of course there's the part of the fact that they ran away from… nah… that can wait.

Shoko's miserable face brightened a bit. "We did?"

"Yeah." Haruto smiled reassuringly. "I remember that. First time I actually see you fret like an actual girl. You know I always thought you were a boy… the way you carry yourself up until that point?"

Shoko pouted and blushed in embarrassment. "Haruto! I'm serious!"

"So do I." Haruto knelt down and sat on Shoko's level. "My head is still in a bit of a buzz… so many of my past memories are still… clouded. I can't tell you which one is fake, which one is real. But… this much I know: all those times we spent together… those happy memories… I don't care if they're implanted or not. The happiness is real enough for me."

Shoko looked at Haruto's face. He looked… mature… the revelation by her father that should've devastated him… he resolved it. "…and… my feelings?"

Haruto looked at Shoko, she was blushing.

"…Haruto… my feelings for you… were they… fake too?"

And Haruto's eyes widened. So this is the answer. She loves him. She really did love him. "Remember… remember that time… back in the shrine? When… I was going to say something to you and then the whole Dorssian attack thing?"

Shoko looked at Haruto with hopeful gaze.

"Yes, Shoko. It doesn't matter that my feelings were implanted… it is… **was **real for me too." Haruto touched Shoko's blushing cheek gently. But as she felt the caress of Haruto's fingers on her cheek… she realized something. He loves her then… and now… he **loved **her.

Shoko closed her eyes, forcing a tear off her eyes. Understanding that this is not a continuation.

This is a reaffirmation of goodbye.

"…I lied to you." Haruto mourned. "When I first turned into a Magius… I was scared that, if I tell you the truth, you would hate me. You would reject me. I should've told you from the very beginning. I didn't trust you enough to tell you, how can I love you? That's what I finally figured out that things will never work between us."

Shoko nodded in understanding. "…I was bad too, you know." She smiled sadly. "When… when L-Elf showed me about that thing you became… when you blow your heads off with a gun… and then you went into rampage inside a ship… I tried… so hard… not to think of you as a monster. But I couldn't. I couldn't."

"I'm not human anymore, Shoko. I will live forever… like Vampires in the movie and all. I sucked in people's lives… well… more like its equivalent… out of their necks. I drain their memories and thoughts and I just learnt how to compartmentalize my brain, the hard way."

"After dad told me of how I can be like you too… I thought many times of turning myself into a magius." Shoko looked at Haruto gave him a terrified look. "I was actually inside 01's cockpit… read that question about resigning humanity a hundred times… I found out… I don't have the guts needed to press yes. Not even for you. Even when you've done it for me… I'm horrible…"

Both teens remained silent for some time, coming to terms with what they are now. They're now living as two different beings in two different worlds. An Immortal and a mortal. A Magius and human.

"Haruto…"

"…hmm?"

"I'm gonna ask a terrible but hypothetical question…" But Shoko wanted to allow herself some selfishness. "If I'm… if I'm in Rukino-san's position… turned into a Magius and all… would you choose me over her?"

Haruto choked at that question. Boy, it was fortunate Saki wasn't here; she might go ballistic if she heard that. She might. But after a second of thought, Haruto answered simply: "No… I'd probably still choose her… even if she's not a Magius."

Contrary to what everyone expected, Shoko grinned wide and light. As if a burden had been removed off her shoulders. "Yeah. That's what I thought." And then she thought… "…kiss me."

Haruto gasped. He looked at Shoko, who tilted her head towards him. "Please?"

Haruto frowned… and he finally nodded. They closed the distance between their faces together… slowly and slowly…

And their lips met.

Just for an instant, and then it was over. Shoko smiled sadly at Haruto. This is a kiss of goodbye.

"Tasted like… blood…" Shoko winced a bit. "You really are a vampire now…"

"Yours taste like… squid ink." Haruto frowned. "I told you Squid Ink Pasta taste weird!"

"IT TASTES GOOD! YOU TRY IT!" 

"No thank you, I prefer drinking people's blood."

And the two childhood friends looked at each other… and they realized they were finally at peace with their emotions and choices as they chuckled together under the evening sky before they burst into uncontrollable laughter, as close bosom friends.

Now that they got the hard stuff out of the way, they start discussing other problems. "So… what do you want to do now? You still want to go to the moon?"

"I'm conflicted. I promised Akira-chan that I will bring her to the Supermarket to buy snacks together. But seriously? After all that? I don't know Haruto… my head was in splinters trying to figure out the things between us and our parents… and while that get cleared up… I still don't know what to decide about all this… I don't know if I can decide."

"Maybe you shouldn't." Haruto chuckled. "Remember what I used to say? When you have something everybody wants. Share it. Split it. Let's be halfsies. If you can't decide then maybe other people can do it for you. You have the truth. And everybody wants it, they deserve it. So share it."

Shoko laughed. "You want me to go out there… and tell all other students, tell the whole world… that parents had consented for their children to be turned into space vampire gonnabes?"

"Maybe you should." Haruto nodded. "They're in deep, anyway. They've seen me, they've seen the Valvraves. They've dealt with the truth, and worse. Just not all of it yet."

**0000000000000000**

Moments later… in Sakimori School's Auditorium…

Shoko stood in front of all the students, with L-Elf and a pale faced Satomi at her side, while she discussed something with Saki. Burnett and all reporters were standing at the front, with all Sakimori students just behind them, but within earshot.

Takumi Kibukawa asked Ryuuji. "Is this wise, Prime Minister? The Council of 101 wouldn't stay quiet at this…"

"This is her own decision. She won't listen to me either… I have no intention to interfere, even if she does."

"This is as good as a declaration of war. What if they tried to attack her mid speech?"

"We are ALREADY at war. That's why the Valvraves are out there right now and that L-Elf is right at her side."

True enough, outside Module 77, Valvraves 01, 03. And 05 are on patrol, encircling the module, with Potemkin on standby.

Haruto looked at the preparation of Shoko's speech through his monitor. "Everyone… stay alert. If the Council of 101 is really what Shashinami-san said… I just know they won't stay quiet at this. Yusuke… you alright?"

Yusuke looked like he just got punched in the face. _"I don't know Haruto. I just found out my brain got tinkered with… Kibukawa didn't say anything to me." _

"Kibukawa-sensei wanted to protect you. That's why he lied to you. He doesn't want you to get hurt."

"_But he still lied to me! Him! The one person I admire the most! I…" _Yusuke looked like he was about to hyperventilate again… but then he managed to calm down. _"Blast it! I don't know what to believe anymore… but I trust you Haruto. The only reason I agree to this because you also said Shoko is going to reveal everything?"_

"We're going to unveil the world."

"_So be it. Let's just hope the world knows what to do next… because I sure as hell don't know."_

"Don't fall apart now, Yusuke." Haruto smiled kindly and reassuringly at the bespectacled boy. "Stay strong! We'll figure it out together."

Seeing Haruto's reassuring smile brought some bits of calmness to Yusuke. "Yeah. Roger that. Thanks Haruto." He smiled back. "V-03, over and out."

And then Haruto contacted Inuzuka.

"_I told Aina everything." _Inuzuka started. _"Just Aina, though. She was… for the lack of better term, shocked… very shocked. But… I told her that doesn't change the fact that I will still do everything in my power to give her back her body… and then live a happy life together with her… even if I have to also become a Magius as well." _

"**Inuzuka-senpai! Don't!" **Aina protested. **"I can't stand it… you… you will become… I…" **She was still a bit rattled over the fact they were brain washed during school.

"_I won't become a monster… I will become a Holy Spirit. Just like you said."_ Inuzuka confidently replied. _"Let's do this Haruto. We're with you all the way. V-05, over and out!"_

Haruto smiled. And then, Pino appeared on Haruto's screen. **"Haruto~o…"** She purred sadly.

"Pino." Haruto sighed. "We're going to tell the world everything. Magius, Councill of 101… us. We're going to unveil all the lies in the world."

"**I'm sorry."**

"?"

"**When I made a deal with your father, I agreed to bring you back from the dead. In return, he promised that, when the time comes, and you became a Magius… you will bond with me. Another reason you were so violent, you weren't just feeding yourself, Haruto… you were feeding me as well. And… I'm sorry to say… I have a rather ravenous appetite." **Pino reiterated.

"If you brought me back from the dead, years ago… I remember I haven't had the need to feed ferociously until I turned into a Magius!"

"**Because I brought you back as a mortal human then."** Pino answered. **"Restoring a limited human's mortal lifespan is easy… but now… you're a Magius. An immortal. Things changed… I can't extend your life indefinitely with my own Runes… I'll die! That's why I need you to feed. It's to keep your own life as well."**

"So… if I don't feed aggressively… I'll die?"

"**Not necessarily. That Rune Overload incident had one silver lining. It… stabilized you."** Pino cheerfully stated. **"And then you bonded with your lover… your runes are aligning nicely. You two now share your burden, so it'll lighten the load half and half."**

"Half and ha…" Haruto was somewhat bewildered. It felt funny when one's word, one's own favorite principle are now being used against him. "So I won't go berserk again?"

"**You might, if you use too much runes… so be careful."** Contrary to what Pino might expect, Haruto doesn't seem to be particularly thrilled over the fact that he no longer had to go berserk. **"What is it?"**

"It's just… I'm okay now… but 47 people had to die for just one me to recover… it felt… wrong." Haruto frowned. "But if I think about it… perhaps that's what they designed me to be… a weapon to kill my enemies."

"**No! When I gave your father and his team of scientist the genetic blueprint to create Earthborn Magius… I never wanted you to become weapons." **Pino mourned. **"You know, I admire you humans. Magius' native world is a world of imaginary numbers: we're not supposed to exist, but we exist anyway. We're beings made of thoughts and dreams. We simply think about it and it happened. Whatever we think turn to actions, into objects of our desire. We're naked instinct – no control. We can't, because we don't know… we don't need it. We're like an exposed wound. But humans… in our eyes, humans are a severely limited creature. You are limited by your physical form, you are limited by your mortality… but humans create, you struggle… everything you do has a meaning, has a purpose. What you create is precious to you because you put everything you got to make it. That struggle is beautiful. It made you all resilient. Strong. I admire that… and I want the Magius to be able to feel it too." **

"So you created us?"

"**Magius who possess great power but empty beings of thoughts. Humans who are powerless and yet resilient and resourceful due to their limitation. Part human… part magius. You were to embody the best of both of our worlds… That's what you were meant to be… a bridge towards a world where Magius and humanity can coexist as equals." **

Haruto frowned. "But the council of 101 enslaved humanity from the shadows."

"**It's all wrong. Magius were not supposed to rule over other beings. We're docile overseers. We watch. We influence and let it as is, never interfere as we like it, giving suggestions through wisdom, never enforce with fear. They've forgotten the principles that define our race… they were cut off from our people for so long… without guidance, without oversight… they've gone all wrong… and it's all my fault." **Pino mourned in sorrow.

"Your fault? Why is it your fault?"

But before Pino can answer, a transmission came from L-Elf down below.

"_V-01, Tokishima Haruto, do you read?"_

"I'm here L-Elf. Nothing to report."

"_I am aware. The speech will begin in 10 seconds. Stay frosty, V-01."_

"Roger that. V-01, over and out."

**0000000000000000**

And while L-Elf was overseeing the Auditorium, A-Drei gave other parts of the module one last sweep, just in case. Every occupant of module is currently gathered in the Auditorium, including all the reporters, so every place was supposedly deserted.

"This is sector 2772… all clear." A-Drei reported. And then he entered sector 2773. "Sector 2773… all cl… wait."

A-Drei watched dumbly as a cardbox with holes for eyes had just crawled past right in front of him. The Cardbox stopped, swiveled around. The eye holes on the cardbox looked at him… and apparently whoever inside it panicked and quickly scurried away. A-drei twitched in disbelief. 'Cardbox. Seriously? Cardbox?'

Needless to say, A-Drei gave chase to that wayward Cardbox, and within seconds he caught up with it. He pulled out the cardbox and…

"KYAAAAAAAARGGHH! WAAAARGHH! WWAAARGGHH!"

He caught a plush mechanical doll heading towards his face, but got hit by a pillow, he blocked a book, followed swiftly by a portable tin trashcan to the head, before a big bag full of external hard disks knock him down cold.

**0000000000000000**

Shoko had never been this nervous. But… she had to tell them. Haruto was right. She can't make this decision alone. It's too big. This matter is something that has to be decided by all.

"Uh… hum."

The Auditorium was silent.

"Good… morning… or wait, this is evening… or is it night? Uhh…"

Everyone chuckled. Great start.

"My name… is Shashinami Shoko. I'm the daughter of Jior Prime Minister, Shashinami Ryuuji." Shoko bowed down. "There's something… I want to tell you all… both to my classmates… and to the world… to anyone willing to hear this."

She took a deep breath… "For many days, we the students of this school had inhabited this module ever since we parted from the main Dyson Sphere. We explored various parts of its place. From there… we excavated the super weapons called Valvrave. Which… I hate to say… were indeed made by my country, Jior, spearheaded by my own father, Shashinami Ryuuji, all in a blatant contradiction to our claim of neutrality."

Ryuuji closed his eyes.

"However… as we study them… and bear witness to their performance… we began to have… doubts. Their abilities surpassed anything the world has ever built. Even surpassing Jior's technological capability. We just don't see how… a human can make something like it. A suspicion began to grow… and it was proven." Shoko took the pictures that she gained from A-Drei's confiscated camera, the one found with him when they arrested him. The photos of various half broken and half intact Valvrave-like mech, held suspended in giant test-tubes were then displayed on the screen behind her. "This… photo… was taken from the lower basement of this module. We confirmed it. It's real. But here's the spooky part. We took a piece of the unit at the center… we tested it… and we found that… the material doesn't match anything in the periodic table. Whatever it is… it's literally OUT of this world."

**0000000000000000**

In ARUS…

Jeffry's eyes widened when he saw this broadcast. He made an emergency call to Dorssia right that instant. "Amadeus!? Are you watching this?!"

**0000000000000000**

The reporters murmured amongst themselves.

"Which is another way of saying… it's alien."

At that comment, the murmurs turned into an uproar. "You're saying that Valvraves were made by aliens?" "Does Jior made contact with aliens?" Questions exploded from the reporters.

Shoko lifted his hands to silence the reporters. "There's more going on… in this module… than just the construction of Valvraves. I've uncovered… many disturbing proofs… that not only this module is creating alien derived super weapons… they're also… experimenting with humans."

**0000000000000000**

In Dorssia…

Amadeus had just received the call as he gritted his teeth in disbelief at the balls of this young girl. "Is that girl sane?"

**0000000000000000**

The students gasped, and the reporters grew wilder. "Is this true?" "How did you find out about this?"

"We found proof… that humanity had… quite in fact… made contact with Aliens… a long time ago. And that contact ended up badly with frightening number of casualties on both sides… mostly ours, really. We now knew that these aliens were called Magius. An extraterrestrial type 7 energy lifeform. The human experimentation that we uncovered… was an attempt to create super soldiers, by combining DNAs of a human… with that of Magius… in preparation when we will fight them again."

"Again?" "You're saying they will come back?"

"No. They're not coming back." Shoko declared. "They just **never left."**

The reporters and the students gasped in horror.

**0000000000000000**

In the undisclosed location of the Council of 101…

Shoko's speech was also being broadcasted in the council's screen.

"What ridiculousness is this?"

"Where did that girl know about us?"

"No need to panic." The head councilor calmed everyone down. "Firstly, she hasn't mentioned anything about us yet. Secondly, even if she does… why would the world believed the words of a young snot nosed girl? Still… one thing for sure… she knows too much. We must silence her."

"Worry not councilor. It's been arranged."

**0000000000000000**

"There's a secret society. A society that was composed of Magius. For centuries, they've been hiding in the shadows, like puppeteers, they've been playing this shadow game, controlling the rule of political leaders who administrate the world's greatest nations, made a puppet leader out of all them. The Fuhrer of Dorssia, the President of Arus, and yes… even my father, the prime minister of JIOR. The attack on this module by Dorssian forces that you've heard so much about… was in fact an attack orchestrated by this illuminati council, whose sole goal… was to ensure the failure of this project, destroying all valvraves and other existing test subjects."

"Test subjects?" "Test subjects?" "Are you saying you succeeded?" "You managed to create a human alien hybrid?" "What's the proof?"

"Proof…" Shoko turned to Saki. "…are you sure about this?" She whispered.

"Not exactly what I had in mind when I said I want to become famous…" Saki nervously looked at the knife in her hand. "But… I don't really care about it anymore so… why the hell not."

Shoko give way to Saki. All eyes instantly turned to Saki, the rising pop idol… holding a knife.

And then…

STAB.

Saki stabbed her own throat with the knife and slit it open, much to everyone's horror.

Every person watching at the tv gaped in shock. Even a car crashed on a firefighter truck when its driver, a fan of Saki, was so shocked when he saw his idol had just gored herself to death on live broadcast on his car tv.

But then, much to the horror of the audience, Saki is still alive. She even used her sleeve to wipe the blood clean off her throat to show them clearly how the wound on her neck heal rapidly… until they disappeared completely. Her eyes momentarily glowed green when the wound disappeared.

The crowd fell silent for the longest time… digesting what they just witnessed.

**0000000000000000**

The Magius Council members who watched this on tv fell silent. They looked at the Head Councilor, hoping for some kind of answer.

The Head Councilor gritted his teeth. "Enough… shut it down. SHUT HER DOWN! NOW!"

**0000000000000000**

"As you can see. We've succeeded. Rukino Saki is one of the pilots of Valvrave. And all Valvrave pilots… are like her. A hybrid race of Human and Magius… Homo Sapien Novus Magius." Shoko stated while Saki returned to her post. "They are, in essence, a biological weapon created for the sole purpose of combating and ending the reign of this council of Magius… the Council of 101." 

"EXCUSE ME!" A yell suddenly echoed across the auditorium. A reporter raised his hand.

"I'm sorry… but I'm having trouble listening to your fantastic nonsense, Ms. Shashinami." A reporter suddenly took a few steps ahead of the crowd, separating himself so as to be seen. "First… let me ask this… what are your proofs that this… Council of Aliens… magius… this… Council 101… isn't just some fruit of your wild imagination?"

The students in support of Shoko and known her well enough to know when she's not joking heard the gloating ridiculing tone in that reporter's words and instantly roared in anger. "WATCH YER TONGUE, YA CREEP!" It was Raizo.

But Shoko remained calm. "Have I not showed you the proof? Aliens called magius… exist. This being standing right next to me… Rukino Saki here… is the living proof. She is a hybrid of human and Magius DNA in one body."

"Ah, I'm sorry. It's just… you mentioned earlier that the political leaders in the world, the most powerful men in their respective nations are all puppets to these… Magius. Am I the only one who found that hard to believe?" The man continued. "And… the… uh… Aliens. You said… they've been living among us. That's awkward because I don't remember ever seeing a grey skinned man with large round eyes and all tentacles."

"Magius have a very unique disposition. As I understand it, they cannot exist physically in our atmosphere. They are beings of pure energy. Almost like a ghost, quite in fact." Shoko continued. "But I'm told of this. The Magius possess an ability to literally hijack a person's body. They enter your being, possessed you, and then took complete control over your identity."

"Oh, so now you're saying we're dealing with ghosts now?" The Reporter's smirk grew wider.

Shoko didn't respond to that.

Suddenly, everyone's attentions were focused on these two individuals. Waiting to see how this will play out.

"We know that medical sciences had advanced greatly. Wounds can be made to disappear in a flash with proper treatment. Special effects and CG techniques had also progressed well enough… they can look as realistic as the actual thing."

"Let me stop you right there, buster." Saki suddenly stepped forward and spoke. "I used to be an actress. And I can tell you right now, there are limits to those special effects. As real as they can look like, there's always a noticeable difference that anyone with half a brain can see right away. What I just did, I did it before your very eyes. There's no tricks, no special effects that can fake it." Saki growled. "So if you say that was a lie… then either you need to get your eyes checked… or you don't even know what the hell are you talking about."

The man's smirk grew wider and more sinister. "Alright. Alright. Let's say… you were right. That there's a mind jacking alien who lived among us by hijacking people's bodies, taking over their place seamlessly. Then let me ask this… How do we know that YOU are NOT possessed by those aliens?"

Shoko's eyes widened upon hearing that question. Now that's a question she did not expect to get.

**0000000000000000**

Meanwhile, out in space… Pino glanced in concern at the proceeding of the speech… **"Haruto!"**

"Pino?"

Pino moved her hands and filtered the Valvrave screens through several vision mode. One in particular was a mode where everything became green. **"Scan the auditorium, quickly!" **

Haruto moved the 01 and scanned the Auditorium. All the students are there… as do Shoko, as do Saki, L-Elf… and… "Pino… is that…!?"

"**GO!"**

Without further ado, 01 quickly dashed back into the module at full speed.

**0000000000000000**

"Can you prove to us right now, that it is you who are speaking to us out of your own free will? Not those aliens, those… magiuses?" Shoko gaped. She couldn't answer that question. The doubt and hesitation clearly shown in her face simply made the said journalist even bolder. "If you say the Magius had been manipulating the whole world from the shadow… then what's the guarantee that all that you've uttered is not also some ploy by the Magius to throw humanity's stability into chaos? Perhaps this is some… pre-preparation to weaken humanity's unity for an… alien invasion or something!"

"HEY! Watch your tongue!" Saki barked, but Shoko couldn't answer it.

"And what is this… Novus Magius? Some make believe super soldier who happens to be able to regenerate using fancy special effects? Even if she is what she claims to be… how can we know that we can trust these… these monsters!" The journalist spat in disgust at Saki, whose face grew more terrible as anger took over her. "What's the guarantee that they really are here for humanity? What's the guarantee that she won't turn against us in a heartbeat?"

"Hey!" Saki's anger exploded. Glowing green spider web like markings appeared on the left side of her face as her eyes turned green. "One more word from you, fatso, and I'll tear you apart!" She roared angrily, revealing the fangs protruding from her teeth.

"Rukino-san, no!" Shoko halted Saki by grabbing her shoulder. Saki stopped, and that's when she realized her folly. Upon seeing her terrible transformation, the crowd grew more terrified. Her anger merely made things worse, proving the gloating journalist's point on how Valvrave pilots cannot be trusted.

"See?" The journalist feigned fear in his triumph. "See? Look at that thing! And you want us to trust that… that monster to fight for us?"

Saki back away in regret over her blunder. Shoko still don't know what to say.

"Trust a silly little girl to come up with such crazy idea! What's even more crazier, you still can't prove any of your ramblings about mind jacking Aliens who lived among us! Of course you can't! Because they. Don't. Exist!"

CRASH!

At that exact moment, the auditorium shook to its foundation when Valvrave 01 had just crash landed straight into the main hall, its upper body smashed through the wall. And the rest of its body crashed in soon after, landing violently right at the stage. Haruto quickly climbed out of the cockpit and angrily tossed his helmet as he furiously eyed at that journalist. "L-Elf. He's a Magius spy. Let's test him."

Before anybody can react, a smirking L-Elf pulled out his side arm and put a bullet to the man's mouth, straight into his brain.

The crowd squealed and cried upon seeing the man's head splattered the floor. But Haruto approached the body and pulled his head up to show the bullet hole to everyone… and by extension, to the camera.

**0000000000000000**

The Magius council members truly panicked this time. They didn't expect this to happen.

"CUT THE FEED! CUT THE DAMN FEED!" But they know it's too late.

"How did they figure him out so quickly?"

**0000000000000000**

Meanwhile, as expected, the Magius' agent's head began to regenerate before everyone's very eyes. The hole disappeared, and moments later, the Magius coughed and choked several times, having just resurrected himself as he spit the bullet back out. People allover the world looked as a man had just returned back to life after being shot in the mouth.

Saki smiled in triumph. "How's that for a special effect?"

Haruto also smirked.

But then, a journalist… Burnett in fact, stepped forward and asked. "Mr. Tokishima… how did you know he was a… urm… a Magius?"

Haruto looked at the journalist and answered. "I didn't. She did." Haruto nodded at the crashed Valvrave 01.

As he did so, Valvrave 01's chest piece suddenly opened up, revealing its Rave Engine. And then, enormous amount of green rune energy spill out as a small but bright spark of light floated out of the said core. The runes coalesce and condensed around the said spark of light, enclosing it, slowly forming the shape of a woman…

And then, moments later, the woman's feature became more vivid, and finally, it formed a fairy like a woman with a very revealing dress, a magenta colored cloak that covered her shoulders, and her head wears a magenta hat with green glowing ribbons and a very long hair that was even longer than her lithe legs. She floats several feet off the ground. Everyone was momentarily entranced by the woman's beauty.

The Fairy Girl, Pino, opened her eyes and then she lowered down until her feet levitate merely centimeters off the floor. She moved… glided towards the podium and Shoko gave way. She gently thanked Shoko with a nod before she looked at the audience and then she cleared her throat. **"Uh-hum. Uhmm… test… test… 1-2-3… is this thing on?"**

Everyone dumbly nodded.

And then, Pino began by introducing herself.

"**My name is Pino."** She paused and added: **"Pinovalkia Acachia Walvralvia. High Raven Queen of the Empire of Valvravia, and supreme ruler of all Magius race!"**

**0000000000000000**

**0000000000000000**

**0000000000000000**

And there we go. My first lemon chapter that I published on Fanfiction. Please clean yourself up properly after you fap.


	4. Us Against the World

**Earth**

**Europe**

**1346, **

**Somewhere in Constantinople… **

A knight walked past a field of green, alone. The knight's whole body was covered in dark red regal armor, with green gems decorating its various parts, and a figure of a three legged Raven figure prominently in the armor's design, including a full face helmet of matching color that was designed to look like a raven's avian face, crowned with a laurel crown whose leafs made of green emerald, eerily glowing bright neon green, emanating an aura of green energy particles. Draped over the knight's shoulder was a magenta red coat, decorated with red feather fur atop it. The knight was also fully armed with a sword and shield, and yet, despite the knight's fearsome visage, the feminine figure of the said knight can easily tell of the knight's gender. Her long and unique colored hair: gold and green, were braided and extended out beneath the knight's helmet.

As she walked through the green grass, she noticed that there are human skeletons scattered here and there. The presence of arrows and other broken weapons signify that this verdant green plain was once a battlefield. As she observed the human skulls, her eyes, her pink and red glowing eyes frowned, both in sorrow and curiosity. "Mortality…" The knight murmured.

"My Queen?"

The Knight reacted when being addressed as such. She rose up and saw another warrior. He was draped in a rather outlandish looking armor, quite outlandish in Europe anyway. His clothes look similar to an Arabic Saracen warrior, draped in easterly armor. Somewhat similar with his queen, the man's armor was green themed, with spider figure prominently in its design. "Queen Pino… your brother request an audience."

Pino chuckled as she shook her head. "Prue… I can guess what he's asking. Always the short tempered one, he is."

"My Queen."

"Yes Attlach. I can tell you've done your best trying to convince my hot headed brother." Pino still chuckled.

With Attlach at her side, Pino take her trip and arrived at an encampment, knights giving her salutes as befit her status as their queen, the Queen of the Magius race. As she neared the main tent, she chuckled as she can already hear her brother angry yells from here.

"The humans are regrouping! Pretty soon they'll be coming again! We must attack first!"

"Out of the question! We don't know what they're here for! They might come here to offer terms!"

"Offer terms!? After what they did to my familiars!? They're savages!"

"You shouldn't have sent them in the first place! We gave them a simple errand of asking them for food, and the villagers were doing just fine until those two perverts start flirting with the Mayor's daughter! And then went ahead and scare her off by transforming right in front of her, and she warned the whole town! Thanks to them we're caught up in this mess!"

"Look, if my boys screwed up, I'LL go down there and take care of it myself! Those villagers went ahead and burn them! They have NO right to do that!" 

"Let's not make a big deal out of it. They survived it didn't they!?"

"NO! The honor of my Knighthood is at stake here! That attack was an insult to my order and to me! If you won't come along, Fran, fine. I'll take my Order and attack-"

It was at that point Pino finally entered the tent and the conversation. "Attack, attack, attack… is that all you can think about, my dear older brother?"

The entrance of Pino distracted the two arguing people. The first was a teal haired boy who's dressed in white knight armor with wolf theme, draped in black cloth. "Sister!" he stated. The second person dressed as a priest with yellowed color. But… bizarrely, the man's face was full of stitches… and screws bolted into his skull, with electricity coruscating in-between the bolts. What's more his skin looked rather pale, as if he's a corpse. And he's carrying a giant hammer… His hunched massive shoulders… were squirming… as if there's something in it that is writhing. He quickly bowed. "My Queen."

"Prue, Loukey is a mischief maker and Romulus is a pervert; they're digging their own graves… which I know they've easily escaped from." Pino laughed it out as she removed her crown helmet, revealing the woman's face that is her human vessel. In a sense, it looked exactly the same as to how she (will) look like, centuries later, but this one was more… earthly. Less fairy like. And though her beauty still shine, her physical human face has been roughened by the ages she had spent on earth, rive with experience. "They should consider themselves lucky they got away with a burning." Pino laughed. What is a burning for a Magius? Nothing but tickles. They can heal easily enough from being burned all the way up to their bones within seconds. They can also easily break free from the restraints when they had to. Of course that only applies as long as their rune reserves aren't in danger. "Rather than being angry over some human tickling your men with their fires, you should consider disciplining them, Prue. There's been lax of discipline from your Order lately."

Prue blushed in embarrassment and anger. "I assure you sister, I shall discipline them harshly until they wished they've never been born. But first, this blemish on our honor must be repaid-"

"Do you not hear me Brother? You will leave those humans alone." Pino stated firmly. A bit different with her usual cheerful tone. "These are simple people. Villagers. Civilians. Moreover, they're humans. Try to understand them a little. Unlike us, they're mortals. There are about 100,000 things that can end their lives in this planet, and we are one of them… when we shouldn't be. They have enough to worry about as is."

Meanwhile, down there in the village, the priest was riling the townsfolk. "These are the forces of Satan! It's not enough to fend off their minions; we MUST take it out to their source! BURN THEM ALL! IN THE NAME OF GOD! BURN THEM ALL!"

And that does it. The whole army of angry mob charged out of the town, heading straight towards the Magius encampment. The priest was at their head, wielding a massive cross.

"They're coming here…" Fran shrugged.

"Pfffttt… with farming utensils? These primitives are so rustic." Attlach snickered. "And is that cross was supposed to do anything?"

"Those are religious symbol my lord. These humans still believed in the concept of deities."

"And what would these 'deities' do to us? Burn us to ashes if they prayed hard enough?"

"That is their way." Pino chuckled. "By believing in something, these humans reinforced their psychological state by believing in beings greater than them are protecting them, beings that will help them make sense on things they cannot understand-yet. It made them feel safe and keep their still immature mind sane. One time I see one of those priest were so terrified of me, he swing his tiny cross right in front of me. He called me the daughter of Satan… I asked him what Satan is… judging by the way he answered me, it's seems this Satan is the symbol of a dark evil deity in which they directed their hate. Some character created to give these humans someone to blame for any misfortune that befell them. I find the concept so amusing that I just left him alone. Maybe that's why shortly after every one of those 'priest' thinks these symbols are effective potent symbol to send us away."

"What ridiculous notion…" Attlach shook his head.

"What do you expect? These humans' civilization level is still in phase… 2… or even 1.5… they got a long way to go. That's how they cope when facing forces greater than they are. They are petty, primitive… and in serious need of guidance." Pino looked at Prue with a gleeful smirk. "These are the sort of creature besmirching your honor. You seriously want to sully your hands for them? Oh my dear brother… and you call me childish." Pino chuckled. "Attlach was right. The humans are still so primitive. So backwards. But they have so much to offer to us. And we have so much to offer for them too. That is… if they just stop being scared of us." Pino took a red feather from her fur coat and whispering a few incantations, she infused runes into the said feather and then she blew it out. The single red feather multiplied into a whole flock of blood red ravens that swarmed the incoming angry mob.

"WHAT'S THAT!?" 

The mob was terrified when they saw a massive swarm of vicious looking blood red ravens flying towards them. They immediately disperse into a chaotic disorderly band, and not even the priest yell can bring them to order. Out of mischievousness, Pino instructed her ravens to pluck the shouting priest. They did so, and the ravens carried the poor priest for a while before they dropped him down into a nearby swamp.

"Kyahahahahaha!" Pino laughed. "There you go. Honor, settled. Okay, big bro?"

A pouting Prue reluctantly nodded. "Sis… you're always being too lenient."

"And you are being too high handed." Pino grinned wide.

And then, all the sudden, a buzz of blue scarabs appeared behind them. Pino, Prue, Fran and Attlach turned around towards the swirling swarm of scarabs emerging from the ground. Amidst the swarm, a massive warrior with thick Scarab themed armor covering his heavily bandaged body rose up. "My Queen! I bring ill news!"

"What is it, Apol'khe?"

"The Grim Witch has lost her mind! The humans found her coven of human followers when she was away. They captured them all, burned them at the stakes. She went insane with grief… she's been murdering every human that crossed her path and unleashed a plague that is destroying every village in her way!"

And for the first time, Pino's cheerful expression turned to horror. "Where is she?"

"She destroyed 7 villages across the river so far." 

"PRUE!" Upon hearing her yell, Prue readily transformed into a white smoke. And from amidst the white smoke, a massive armored wolf stepped out. It's entire body were composed entirely of armor plates of gold and silver color. Without further ado, Pino mounted the wolf and Prue dashed with all due haste. Upon reaching several steps, Prue and her sister disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

**000000000000000 **

A human village is currently being overrun. Not by human mortal army… but by rats.

And not just ordinary rats. These rats are huge, seemingly endless. Worse, they brought a plague with them. A plague that killed with utmost certainty and none can escape it. Doctors worked sleeplessly through night and day to find a cure, and yet the disease is also killing them where they stand just as their patients, and even the nurses, are dying left and right.

A mother tried to carry her children to safety, avoiding these unearthly black rats… but it was no use. They are everywhere. And then she took the wrong turn and saw, with horror as a whole swarm of rats are heading towards her, bringing with them this deathly plague. The mother hugged her children tight, vainly shielding them from the incoming slow death… and then…

An armored greave took a step forward, the clapping sound of its stomp seemingly echoed across the city, and every rats in that city stopped moving and looked at the direction of the sound.

Pino has arrived standing before the flooding rat swarm, shielding the terrified mother and her children who saw how the rats scurry back in fear, making way for the lady knight's commanding presence in their midst.

"Show yourself witch." Pino's terrible fury was laced in every cold and calm word she uttered. She pulled out a long two handed sword (which she wielded one hand) with a unique shape. The blade was split into a two pronged fork. What's more, the blade glow unearthly red. As red as her eyes, which glowed darkly. "I don't care if you are insane… are you insane enough to test the fury of your queen?" Gold and red aura of her Runes extended out of her hands and enveloped the forked sword. "SHOW YOURSELF!" 

Pino stabbed the red sword to the ground, releasing a pulse of red and gold wave that coruscate throughout the whole town. The blast caused all rats to wince… and then, slowly but surely, the rats began to converge on a single point in front of Pino. Piling one another into a mound, it grew bigger until it reached the height of Pino's waist… and finally, as if emerging from beneath the swarm of rats, was a person. Its entire figure draped in tattered purple cloak, carrying a scythe. Despite its horrifying visage, the grim reaper bowed down like a supplicant before Pino, swarmed by its fretting and jittering rats.

"Witch… what have you done?" Pino growled.

"**They… killed… my children… they killed… my friends… humans… must pay…"** She whispered.

"Through GENOCIDE!?" Pino exploded. "You of all people!? I really did not expect this of you! How could you!?"

"**Humans… unruly… barbaric… violent… hateful… they lie… they take… our love…your love… my love… for granted… and they throw it away… after everything… we did for them… they did not accept us…" **

Prue, Attlach, Fran and Apol'khe had also arrived on the scene, looking at the witch with damning eyes.

"**Humans… are not worthy… they will never be… worthy…"**

Pino mourned. "…Witch… of all the members of my court, you are the last person I would expect to say those terrible words. Is it not you whom I trust the most to make our dreams a reality? Is it not you who are the most passionate about them… how can you say this…? Have their hate swallowed you up?"

As she said it, a rock suddenly hit Pino by the head, much to all of her entourages' fury, especially Prue. Pino looked and saw it was the very mother she was protecting, throwing rocks at her vainly in an attempt to send her away. "GO AWAY! GO AWAY YOU DEMON!" She shrieked.

"UNGRATEFUL ANIMALS!" Prue exploded and was about to rip said woman apart for her insolence, but Pino raised her hand, stopping him. She shook her head sadly. "Can we blame them, Prue? Can we blame these humans to be afraid because they are less enlightened than we are? Can we blame them for being an infant who still knew nothing?"

Another rock flew towards Pino, but then, they stopped inches away from her. And there it floated harmlessly before the queen. The mother stopped throwing and looked in horror at the she-devil before her. Pino shook her head. The woman was utterly frightened and she ran, taking her children with her. Among her children, was a silver haired boy, whose eyes never left Pino's beautiful visage…

Pino looked mournfully at the devastated state of this town. "It's too late for this town… and this country as well. The plague will spread and fester… there's nothing else we can do…"

"We can give them the antidote!" Fran stated. "This plague is not unknown to our science!"

"But it is not known to theirs. They're at the stage where they cannot accept anything that they don't understand, not even in desperation. Will they trust the people who caused this in the first place?" Pino shook her head. "They have to face this alone. We have to leave." 

"To where? Should we try this land called Egypt, perhaps?" Apol'khe suggested. But Pino meant further than just another country.

"No. I meant that we have to leave this planet."

Everyone's eyes turned to Pino in shock. "Leave? You mean… you're giving up this planet?" Attlach pondered.

"No. Not giving it up. We wait." Pino stated. "I see now that these humans are still in far too early stages of their development to even comprehend the concept of our existence. If we try too hard to force them to understand, we'll only end up destroying each other's identities. As it did you." Pino gestured at the fidgeting Witch. "They aren't ready. We aren't either. We have to wait."

"How long?"

"As long as it takes." Pino nodded. Her decision is final.

"But our people…!? They are dying!" Attlach stated. "I'm not sure they can wait much longer! And we cannot wait forever!"

"What is waiting for us?" Pino chuckled. "A hundreds years? Two hundred? A thousand? They're but a heart-beat. Forever? Eternity? Dreams in our sleep."

"There are thousands of other worlds that we have seeded, eons ago. We barely covered them all." Fran answered calmly. "I agree with the Queen. We must set to the stars once again, and find them all. If nothing else, to find an alternative in case this world fails."

"True." Pino nodded. "However, of the thousands of failures we have found, this world holds the biggest promise for our future. With the right guidance… the humans would make a perfect ally."

"But what if they don't want to change their ways?"

"Then we have to ensure they change." Pino looked at the condemned witch. "Thanks to your hatred, we cannot stay here anymore. Humanity must face whatever horrors you have unleashed upon them alone. Your actions cannot go unpunished."

And now the witch grew fearful. **"My Queen… send me not… from your side…"**

But Pino had a different idea entirely. "No. I have a task for you. You will stay here, on this planet. You will aid the humans, uplift them, and illuminate their ways, accelerate their evolution. I will leave this planet now to check on other seeded worlds. But someday, I will return here, and so you must wait. That is your mission, and penance. As for your punishment however…" She grabbed the witch's head, and then, suddenly, the witch gasped and shrieked. Green markings appeared on her being, glowing underneath her cloak, and huge amounts of runes seeped out of her from the said markings. "These Geass seals will drain you off your runes, stripping you of all your powers. It will not kill you, and you would still live forever… but you will be as weak as the humans. That is your punishment. You will complete your mission: uplift them, and made them ready when I return. But you must do so as a human. This I decree."

And then, when it was said and done, Pino let go, and the witch fell on the rat covered floor, panting and gasping, incredibly weakened.

"It will take many lifetimes for her alone to change this world." Attlach stated. "Especially if she's to spend her time as a human."

"Then help her, Attlach, my love." Pino turned to her consort, Attlach. "During our long stay on earth, too many of our people have assimilated too deeply with the humans. The growing Magius society that has been formed here will require an overseeing, especially since they are growing. Pick your wisest advisors, and form a ruling body for them, lead them. After what happened here, the future of all the Magius on Earth will be bleak and trying. Protect them. Go into hiding within the obscurity of human's history. Let them forget about us, but we will not forget about them."

Attlach bowed down.

"Remember everyone: see but don't be seen. Guide. Never enforce. Use wisdom. Not…" Pino sadly looked at the destroyed city. "Not fear. Never fear."

The witch had also apparently regained her sanity… and her conscience. "My… Queen…"

Pino looked at the downed witch.

"You can count on me… no matter how long it'll take… I will uplift the humans… they will be ready… when you return."

Pino smiled kindly and approached the downed witch. She gently lifted her up and unveiled her cloak, rubbing the woman's face. "May the stars shine warmly upon us when we meet again…"

The girl cried before her queen. "My Que-… Pino…"

"We shall meet again… My Dearest Lieselotte."

**Chapter 4:**

**Us against the World**

**Centuries later…**

**Earth, Present day…**

Lieselotte stared wide eyed at the sight of her queen appearing on the TV. Tears welled up before they streamed down full force. "My queen!" She fell on her knees and cried in happiness. "My Queen! You have returned!" 

**000000000000000 **

The Council of 101 jawdropped when they saw their legendary Queen in the flesh (so to speak), standing right there on the screen for the whole world to see.

**000000000000000 **

Amadeus dropped his phone on the ground, mouth open aghast.

**000000000000000 **

Jeffry spilled his coffee to his suit in shock.

**000000000000000 **

In Module 77…

The reporters were having the time of their lives, snapping pictures of the first Alien until they need to rapidly replace their memory cards again and again.

Pino grinned wide and waved her hand saying: **"Hiya."**

She turned around and saw Shoko whose jaw hung low… and then Haruto, Saki, even L-Elf, Ryuuji and Kibukawa… their jaws on the floor… they were all so shocked, it almost looked like their heart just jumped out of their aghast mouth.

And Pino, in all her naïve style, still had the guts to ask: **"…something wrong fellas?"**

"You… never told us… that you're… a queen…" Shoko stated word per word.

Pino blinked innocently and then turned to the shocked Ryuuji. **"Really? I never told you?"**

Ryuuji shook his head.

"**Hummm…" **She pointed at her chin and then smiled cutely while sticking out a tongue. **"Whoops, sorry. My bad."**

Every single being on planet Earth sta~are at the one and only Klutz Queen of the Kingdom.

But Pino quickly put her klutziness aside. **"What Ms. Shashinami said is true. For centuries now, your planet, Earth, has been hosting refugees hailing from my world."**

"Refugees?"

"**Our world exists in an impossible warp of space, a universe where thoughts are made manifest into physical being. At its zenith, our empire spanned the farthest reach of the universe, accomplishing wonders. But… several eons ago, we foresee that our planet, or to be more precise, our universe is reaching the end of its lifespan, and it's about to be destroyed."**

"What caused it?" Burnett asked.

"**Our Universe literally got squeezed by another newly emerged but much larger universe… yours. For all our power, we have one weakness: we cannot exist for long outside our own environment. When I'm in another world other than my native world…"** Pino demonstrated this by moving her hand towards the mike. The mike passed through her hand as if she was but air. However, the mike notably shot-circuited, becoming overcharged. **"You see, in your world, we are creatures of pure energy. Energy we'd like to call Runes. The particles that compose the abstract object you call information. We have no physical beings, hence we, in sense, cannot affect your physical world directly."**

The crowd nodded, the journalist jotting all this like crazy. Pino continued her story. **"And so, to survive this calamity, under my orders, we sent millions of refugees to every part of the newly emerging galaxies, searching for a new home, a place that will allow our fragile disposition to exist. We seeded thousands of worlds, Earth being one of them. And then we waited, and we prepare. We cannot exist in your physical world, but we have an ability that allowed us to possess other lifeforms with physical body, allowing us to momentarily took control of other beings and use them to interact with the physical world for us."**

"You mean like… mind control? Enslavement?"

Pino nodded. **"Yes. However, mind you, they were dangerous and desperate practices. To be inside someone else's head risk corruption to our very essence… we're also a very fragile being, see. And we have no intentions to enslave other race. Our possession of their bodies was so that we can momentarily borrow their physical body to build what we need: a vessel for our essence that will allow us to survive in the physical world."** At this Pino gestured… at the Valvraves. **"The process took hundreds of years… we churned up millions of vessels, and yet there were uncountable trillions of us, and time grow short. Eventually, it happened. Our Universe imploded taking half of our people with it. The survivors then reached out to the farthest corner of the world. We searched the outposts on the worlds we had seeded. Between various kinds of space disaster, the mounting number of vessel malfunctions, and various other merciless cosmic predations… our number shrank explosively. Of the thousands of worlds that we rediscovered, hardly a handful can serve as nothing more than a reprieve rather than a solution. Some had even been hit by a cosmic calamity… and our population continues to dwindle. By the time we reached your world… there were hardly a few millions of us left." **

"You've been here before?" 

Pino nodded again. **"A long time ago… we first arrived somewhere around… 50 BC, during the zenith of the Roman Empire, if I'm not mistaken."** And then Pino's smile grew in excitement. **"Earth instantly caught our attention. Of the expedition we sent earlier, there were no sign… but Earth harbor that which many worlds did not. Humans."** Pino grew more excited as she continued her tale. **"By coincidence or providence, most of our vessels suffered a catastrophic system failure right around that point. For all intents and purposes, we are stranded here on earth. Seemingly for good. We have no choice, we slowly began to adapt as we possess the creatures of this world. We also learned that though the expedition we sent here was gone, many of their incarnations appeared in your fairy tales and myths. Some of you worshipped us as gods and deities, others called us monsters and demons."**

Burnett gulped, as do everyone. They realize now they're not just listening to a recounting of an Alien's chronicle, they're listening to a story that will twist the very truths of their world upside down. Religion, history, society, everything will be changed forever.

"**By that time, we, the Magius had made earth as much as our home as our old world. Some had even agreed that our search is over and began assimilating with local populace. We admire human ingenuity, their passion to learn… you were at the peak of your ecosystem, and you are still growing. In you, we saw a potential to not only restore our race, but to also forge a future greater than any that had come before. But… as time went by… things changed, particularly, when we discovered one fundamental problem that greatly differentiated us with humanity."** Pino stated. **"Humans can die naturally." **

Pino grew more solemn and calm. **"Magius are immortal. We can only die by unnatural causes, such as the implosion of the universe that I mentioned earlier. Humans were the first race that introduced us to the concept of natural death and mortality, the concept of limited lifespan." **Pino frowned in sorrow. **"When we found out about this 'flaw'-" **Pino actually made the quotation mark. **"-it's like finding a crack in the diamond. Many of us began to have second thoughts of making Earth our new home. Some had adopted the mindset of using humanity as a mere tool to help them fix their vessels, and then move on to the next world. But… our vessels are bleeding edge technology, even for us. It took us years to build just one, and your technology at the time, I'm sorry to say… you're practically still living in the Stone Age." **

The crowd winced, but not offended. For a race that had trudged the stars while the humans were still cavemen, Rome's civilization, lauded on Earth as one of the greatest civilization, must look laughable compared to an empire that had conquered their known universe.

"**In time… we managed to fix our vessel, but by that time, we've grown accustomed to Earth. What's more we found out that while normal humans age and die, our human hosts inherit most of our powers, including immortality. While that's just fine for us… your people deemed us monstrosity for our inability to get sick and age."** Pino looked at the crowd. **"Worsening the matter was that, possessing human bodies for so long caused our human vessel, nourished by our Runes, to develop mutations. Many of which caused these mutated humans to figure prominently in your horror stories. Read Bram Stoker's Dracula, watch The Mummies film, and various kinds of Werewolf fiction like the Underworld Quadrology and Van Helsing, and read all other folklores for reference."** Pino raised a finger and smiled wide, promoting earth's films that she spent time watching – and laughing her brains out at how amusing it was.

Sta~a~are…

"**Things came to ahead when eventually, the rift between our two races had went past beyond the chance of compromise, turning into open hostility with one another, which… as Shoko-chan had said earlier… caused astronomical damage to both of our races. That's when I realized, humans aren't ready yet. You were a young species. You still have much to learn. And so we left you to your devices, but we haven't given up on earth. So I left behind some of my most trusted advisors here, along with some of my people to help humanity, uplift them to ascend to the stars… like we once did."**

Burnett rolled his eyes. "Well… I would go so far as to say thank you… but… aren't you doing this so that you can possess us later?"

Pino chuckled. **"How right you are. And I know for certain that you all would find that disagreeable and unacceptable. We understand. Before we get to that point, I'd like to point out another fundamental problem with our beings: Magius needs to feed on Runes to survive. Runes are information particle, richly found in sentient beings." **Pino quickly followed. **"When we are not in our native world, in your atmosphere, our body diminished gradually. In order to survive, we need to feed on runes. And on earth, Runes are most richly found… in humans. Excessive feeding on a human will cause amnesia… and then death." **Pino quickly added with a smile. **"Which is another way of saying: we need to feed on humans to survive."**

The crowd grew terrified at this revelation.

"**I understand you are terrified. But let me say one thing, JUST to be clear: OUR goal… is not dominance. It's Co-Existence. We have no intention to reduce human into cattle waiting to be slaughtered. We wish to aid humanity, so that our two races can stand together as equals. I know we can. How do I know this? Because I've done it before."** Pino suddenly pointed at herself. Her form. **"This form belongs to a woman, whose vessel I inhabit centuries ago, back during my stay in Europe. And I can tell you right now, we are not master and servants, we are friends, standing shoulder to shoulder as equals. When I ascend to the stars, we left behind her crumbling flesh, but her soul and mine united, we are one now." **

"But you still need to feed on humans… aren't you?"

"**Hence… why I started the VVV project."** There. Pino stopped talking about the past and finally entered the present. **"When I come back to this world, 20 years ago, I found humanity had changed greatly. You are wiser, civilized, advanced. On one hand I'd like to credit those whom I left here to aid uplifting you… but I'd like to think that humanity had also advanced themselves with their own effort. Of course when I first landed, I was first welcomed with fear and vigilance. But I'm used to such treatment and I persevere. And then, Prime Minister Shashinami Ryuuji began communicating with me, allowing me to gain sketchy understanding of how far humanity had progressed."**

Pino smiled in gratitude to a flabbergasting Ryuuji. And then she looked at Shoko. **"Let me correct you on one thing, Shoko-chan. The original goal of the VVV project was not to create a superhuman soldiers… but to create a new race of men who will possess all our strengths, Magius and Humans… without the weaknesses of the parent race: mortality, frailty, inexistence of a body… and, of course… the Magius' nearly uncontrollable thirst for Runes."** Pino smiled at the crowd. **"One quality of humanity that we would like to capitalize on is your ability to imagine many things that we aren't capable of. Your limits gave you the thirst to imagine, invent and create, so we would like to put our hopes that, with it, you would also be able to find a way to end this uncontrollable thirst."** Pino waved her left hand to her side, presenting the Valvrave pilots and the Valvrave itself. **"****Homo Sapien Novus Magius…**** they are my gift to mankind! A gift that will allow both of our races to coexist and finally united together and ascend, as one people, one race!"**

At this statement, the reporters went even more nuts with their camera. Flashes of light flickered nonstop, taking pictures of the Alien Queen in all her glory. Burnett understands, but he once again voiced one concern. "So… about this… new race of man…"

Pino looked at the reporter with a smile, asking him to go on.

"So am I to understand it… that you wish to convert the whole of humanity into Novus Magius."

Pino easily understand where this is headed and she suddenly reverted to her usual cheerful demeanor. **"Well… in this case, it's my turn to ask. In the centuries that went by on earth… and all the cultural change you must have endured… how do people on earth treats gifts these days? If someone give something to you for free, but you don't want it, do you have the right to refuse? Or must you accept it?"**

Burnett blinked in confusion and stated. "Well… on earth, if somebody give you a present that you don't want… you have the right to refuse… though doing so can be considered extremely rude to the one who gave the present…"

"**Indeed? Humans have a saying: if you're in Rome, then act like a Roman. I'll do the same here. I'm in earth. So I'll act like earthlings."** Pino smiled cheerfully.** "This is a gift. Not an order or a demand. You are free to choose to be or not to be like us. Mind you, if you choose to be like us, there's no going back. But if you choose to reject it, that's fine. I'm not offended."**

"However, I'd like to point out that, as things are, those who received this gift will be superior to those who do not." Burnett rebuked. "Even though you say that you have no intention to force this change, people will still be compelled to change anyhow. The society who will prefer the superior Magius will force them to."

Pino smiled. **"Very good. Yes. That's true. But I was counting on human wisdom to sort that out. The fact that all of you are here, now, listening to my promises and being critical about it is proof that I think humanity is now wise enough to sort it out eventually."** The Magius Queen nodded. **"I know the consequences that will happen if this project was completed. We kept this project a secret precisely because we don't want anyone to try to abuse this gift. Not until humanity is ready. It's because of recent events that finally forced VVV project come to light when it shouldn't be. It's not ready yet, you see."**

"Not ready… you mean the process is incomplete?"

"**Tokishima Haruto."** Pino gestured at Haruto. **"He's the first of his kind, the first Novus Magius. A kind gentle soul who dislike taking pain and inflicting it. In my opinion, he deserved this gift more than anyone. But I tell you right now, this gift has been nothing but an unending torment worse than death for him."** Everyone winced and Haruto merely frowned. **"It granted him everything: immortality, strength beyond normal human, immunity to illness and death… but it also cursed him with our thirst to feed. The very thing I tried to remove. I had not succeeded. The transformation process is still flawed. It would take many more years of research for the process to be perfected, and the answer may not come out in a single human lifetime." **Pino gazed in sympathy at Haruto. **"Tokishima Haruto became a Novus Magius not out of choice, but out of desperate circumstances. Other pilots were no less different. They've been thrust out of their normal life into a battle for their life and soul… all because of this project. And for that, no amount of apology will ever make me deserve their forgiveness."** Pino bowed her head down apologetically at Haruto. **"Hence, I made it my duty to find a cure and perfect the transformation. And I will not rest until I find it. I owe them that much." **

Burnett once again raised his hand, casually asked the question: "Alright, so you declared that VVV project is for civil purposes… and yet, we saw the Valvraves, and they are, beyond the shadow of doubt, the most powerful weapon the world has ever seen. If civil purpose is the main goal, why does it involve super weapons and super soldiers?"

Pino nodded. **"Finally. I've been waiting for that question to come out."** Everyone gave the eccentric queen their undivided attention. **"But first… let us learn more… about this person here." **Pino gestured at the bound and gagged Magius spy lying on the floor. Pino floated forward, phasing through the table, the podium, and landed gently next to the Magius. L-Elf caught the hint and took the gag off the spy, carefully so as to prevent the spy from biting him. Pino asked gently: **"What's your name?" **

The spy looked at the Queen… and finally said his true name, in his true voice. **"Thorazes. Familiar of Fran."**

"**Fran. Ah my dear friend Fran."** Pino mourned. **"Fran fell during his expedition to the Nebulan Verse, when it was swallowed by a mega blackhole. I wept when I sensed his passing."  
**

"**As do we all, Queen Pino."** Thorazes replied.

"**If you wept for him… why are you doing this?"** Pino mourned, and then he began addressing the crowd once more. **"When I first returned here, it was to my rather pleasant surprise when I find out that a few select human was aware of our existence, and understand what we are. However… I also began to learn of a problem. From Shashinami Ryuuji, I learnt that those trusted advisors of mine which I left behind had gone awry. They dominate and rule humanity from the shadows. They diverged from the path I once set to them, the path that all Magius had agreed to thread, forgotten all our principles… they became the very opposite to what we're supposed to be… instead of a guide, they became an oppressor. A predator, a slave to our hunger for runes." **Pino turned to Thorazes.** "Why, Thorazes, Familiar of Fran. Why have you defied my directions, Magius?"**

"_Because we are dying, my Queen."_ It wasn't Thorasez who answered. Suddenly, the huge holographic screen in the auditorium went static, and moments later, the screen showed the image of men in hoods. That answer came from them

Haruto's eyes widened. "Is that…!?"

Saki gulped. They've done it now…

L-Elf narrowed his eyes in deep thought.

Shoko looked at all these people in hoods… and felt something really bad…

**0000000 **

Yusuke blinked. "They hacked the broadcast?"

Inuzuka frowned.

Ryuuji, Kibukawa and everyone gasped. They didn't expect this will happen. "Prime Minister… is that…" Kibukawa looked at Ryuuji. Ryuuji nodded. "I can't believe it. They actually did it…"

**0000000 **

A-Drei had regained consciousness and caught as well as tied the squirming and panicking Akira as he watched the event through his phone. He gritted his teeth in anger. "…so… they've shown their faces at last."

**0000000 **

Back in the Auditorium…

Pino looked up to the screen. **"And you are…?"**

"_**We are the Council of 101."**_

**00000000000000**

And in that one instance, not just the auditorium of the Sakimori High… the WHOLE world went into an uproar. ARUS TV rating and view rate went through the roof. Every man, woman and child in the planet had their eyes glued on the screen, which quickly divided into the image of Pino and the Council of 101, getting ready to duke it out. Jeffry gasped his blessed heart in disbelief upon seeing this event unveiling before his eyes. The same can be said to Amadeus in Dorssia, who collapsed to his seat.

The Council that has remained hidden in the shadows for hundreds of years now stepped into the light. Just like Haruto said… all the lies in the world are being unveiled at last.

**00000000000000**

The hooded men and women of the Council bowed down to their knees. _"Your loyal subjects welcome your return, my Queen."_

"**Loyal subjects you say?"** Pino glared at the screen. **"Very well then, Loyal Subjects. Answer your Queen. Why have you strayed from the path I set you? Why did you dominate instead of guide? Your Queen commands you to answer these questions!"**

"_After you left, humanity managed to overcome and recover from the Black Plague after a century passed. But the era that came after…"_ The Head Councilor spoke on behalf of the council. _"Madness crept into the minds of the humans. A frenzy. Humans called it witch hunt. They hunt us all down, killing our vessel one by one, drown us, burn us… we tried to disappear but they drag us out."_

"**How did they found you?"**

"_They don't."_ The Councilor responded. _"The humans will not hesitate to massacre millions of their own to slaughter just a handful of us! They killed more of their own than our plague in a frenzy. Older, more powerful Magius were able to survive… but they didn't even spare our young. They slay them all. In time, coupled with the lack of Runes, our people died one by one."_

"**I can understand how our people had suffered, and I grieve for them."** Pino frowned and closed her eyes. **"But what humanity had done to us was the direct result of what we've done to them before. We killed their children. We devoured and replaced their loved ones."**

"_My Queen…"_ The Councilor replied. _"…they've killed all the Matriarchs."_

Pino's eyes widened. **"My sisters?"**

"Matriarchs? What is that?" Saki asked.

"**Like all other sentient race, we are also capable of reproduction. But that is a role that can only be done by a very specific caste: the Matriarchs… my kin." **Pino shrugged. **"You can compare it to the queen in an insect hive, if you will."**

"_Without the Matriarchs… the remains of our people can no longer replenish our dwindling number… there are so few of us left now, My Queen. The Covenant of the Seven Rainbows was failing. The familiars sensed the fall of their masters one by one. We've also lost hope… that you would ever return."_ The Council members looked at Pino. _"But you have returned. Just like you said you would…"_

"**I failed you."** Pino frowned in sorrow. **"…I brought many of our people when I left Earth, to reach out the other outpost in other worlds. But all I found was death. Many of them died long ago. Of what little remained of our people that I brought with me… I'm the only one left, and I even lost my brother Prue upon my return here. I'm sorry… I failed you all."**

"_No you're not."_ The Councilor stated. _"You are our queen. And you are the last of the Matriarchs. It is within your power to restore our race! With you once again stand by our side we can at last take revenge on the humans and rule them!"_

However, contrary to what the Council members might have thought, Pino's expression turned to that of an absolute disgust. **"Revenge? REVENGE!? Is that all you can think about now!? And what is this talk about rule?" **

"My queen. It is for their own good." The Councilor replied. "Despite the loss of the matriarchs, we loyally obeyed your command. We continually uplifted human, elevating them from cavemen into the people they are today. But look what they've done." The Councilor moved his console, and sent a data through his runes. Somehow, Pino was able to perceive the data to her being and opened it up, displaying its content before her. The file that the Councilor had sent to her contains all forms of human atrocity that they've committed over the course of their civilization: Holocaust, systematic slaughter of the Jews, two world wars, ethnic cleansing, tribal bloodbath, opium war, human trafficking, terroristic bombing. The worst was the Nuclear Bomb. Firing it once was atrocious enough, human had fired it twice.

"Despite our best efforts, humanity's savage nature continues to exist. Every technology we taught them, every advancement we gave them, no matter how simple, how harmless, they somehow direct their ingenuity to turn them into a deadly weapon." The Councilor gestured at the Valvraves. "Take the Valvraves for example. We crafted the Valvrave to be our vessel. Our body. A simple, harmless invention that enable to us to interact with their world. Look what they've done to it. They strapped weapons to it, and before long, it suddenly became the deadliest weapon on earth. Despite our best efforts to direct them towards the right future, the better future, they continually choose paths that would lead to their own destruction. They are so pathetically like children. They need to be protected from their own destructive tendencies. Only by ruling them, can we protect them from themselves. We are not their worst enemy, My Queen. They are their own worst enemy."

Humans allover the world watched this and gritted their teeth in bitterness. Those who understand can only swallow their pride and suck it up, understanding the Council was right. Some angrily shouted at the screen, screaming angrily, shouting curses and protest to the uncaring council.

Pino watched all these files before her, her face frowned.** "Who are we?"** She asked.

"We are the Magius! The ultimate life form! The one race that will guide-"

"**No."** Pino cut him off mid rant.** "Who are we to think we deserve to rule them?"** The Queen raised her head and looked at the Council.

Allover the world, Pino's words were being broadcasted live.** "You sent me the files that showed all the atrocities performed by mankind. And you call them children. Tell me. Were we so different? I see before me the repetition of our own history played out by mortal human hands. We came here, belittling them for their violent nature. And yet when it mattered, instead of sharing them our wisdom, you damned them to repeat the mistakes that we've made."**

"**When Shashinami Ryuuji told me of how far you have fallen, I don't want to believe it."** Pino glared at the Councilor. **"But now I see it clearly: I've made a mistake. A grave mistake of entrusting the fate of humanity to you. We play God and think we have the right to determine the fate of lesser species. I was wrong. A species must forge its own destiny. Without interference from anyone!" **

The Councilor said nothing.

"**I hereby order the Council of 101 to disband. All Magius on earth are now to report to me and release their host! We will then concentrate all our efforts to find a way to leave Earth, we will never come back here again. Let the humans decide their own future."**

However, the Councilor, and by extension, the members of the Council of 101 said nothing.

The whole world awaits their response…

"Can you do it though?" The Councilor suddenly retorted.

"**What?"**

"Can you afford to send us all away?" And while Pino still wondered what he meant, the Councilor compiled another file and he sent it to Pino. Pino received the data and expand it. If the previous folder contains the all the data that pertains to humanity's atrocity, this data contain… something else entirely.

Economical growth, population control, geo-political stability, technological development, even ecological graphs, military deployment, and stock price. Pino trudged through all this data, understanding them with ease… and her frown grew. The silence was unnerving. Shoko, out of curiosity also take a sneak peek. The audience was somewhat confused with all this data. What's with all the graphs, numbers and charts…

Aboard 03, Yusuke, the tech wiz, looked at some of the numbers in that data and understand what it meant to human technology. "Wha…?"

Aboard 05, Inuzuka, the business savant recognized the dire situation of the economic sector. "Oh, you gotta be kidding me…"

Shoko frowned, not understanding what she's seeing in these datas. "What… exactly are we looking at here?"

"To explain it all would be too long." The Councilor stated. "But simply put, we just showed the Queen how we are governing this world for the sake of humanity."

"What do you mean?" Shoko growled.

"Queen Pino… you weren't gone for a decade or two. You were gone for several centuries. During which, the world has changed. And not only the humans… the Magius have changed as well. Suffice to say, both of our races had become… inextricably linked in various aspects of our respective society. Too many of our ranks had become integrated in various crucial aspects of human's society. We've become an irremovable part of your world just as you had become an irremovable part of ours. Neither race can live without the other. If we leave… or we stopped doing what we've been doing all these centuries… the world… our world… Humans' and Magius'… will be destroyed."

"That's not possible!" Shoko grunted.

"Let me tell you what will happen when we leave." The Councilor explained. "In two years, the economy of every human nation will face a total collapse to the point even the most powerful nation wouldn't be able to afford to hold on to their army for long. Countless people will lose their living, and in desperations, governments will fell upon one after another, and they will wage war to secure scraps that wouldn't be enough to maintain order for long. Nation will eventually consume themselves, expend what little resources they have left and fall. Without higher order, society will be reduced to anarchic state where even law and order will no longer be obeyed and they'll turn on each other. Soon, unchecked and unbridled, humanity will expend what little resources they had left, and they'll be reduced back to stone age. Even this is an optimistic prediction, assuming the humans survived the nuclear war that will happen when super power nations duke it out without us in the way. And for Magius? Our race will wander the cold dark of space, without home, without sustenance, in a path of slow and painful extinction, altogether."

The crowd was terrified at the prospect. As do the whole world.

"You made that up!" Shoko responded in place of the still frowning Pino.

"How would you understand, little girl?" The Councilor smugly stated. "You've only been living in this world for 17 years. We've been living in your world for centuries. We've been deciding the fate of the entire planet before you were even born. Humanity wouldn't be as they are today… if it weren't for us. And we must continue to do so, if this world is to survive. We are one. Your people and mine. Is this not what the Queen wanted? A unity of our two races." The Councilor glanced at the frowning Pino. "Go ahead my Queen. You, whose cosmic wisdom is greater than ours should understand the truth in what I say. If not then look at the facts we presented you, and tell us how we're wrong."

And much to Pino's sorrow… she had to agree with the Councilor. Humans and Magius are now part of each other's life. To take one, is to destroy both. **"…but you dominate them. You enslaved humanity, caging them in this prison garden of prosperity!" **She further added, though she was no longer as certain as before, with doubt worming their way into her heart. **"And you still feed on them. I heard from Ryuuji that month after month, you demanded human tributes to have their runes sucked out."**

"A mere trifle compared to their prosperity nonetheless. Those tributes are mere trickles compared to what we've given them back. What's more, it was not us who suggested it, it was the humans who came up with that idea." The Councilor replied calmly. "And perhaps that is their fate. The natural order of things. To be prosperous forever while being governed by a superior race. US."

"**You're taking away their freedom. Their chance to become greater than we could!" **Pino shrieked. **"No more different with how you are jacking those bodies you're using; you're jacking humanity's soul! Turning them into dolls! I ask you now humanity… is that what you want!?"**

"Fine. Let's ask them." Once again the Councilor arranged something with his runes, and then, it appeared. "We've sent this to every human population in this galaxy. 7.5 billion and all. Magius population is practically a fraction of that, so our opinion we'll hardly make any difference."

It appeared on every laptop, every computer, every phone, ipad, tablet… anything that is connected to the net… which is everything. ARUS, Dorssia, and even the new New Jiorian student's handheld. On the screen of every device of every human on the planet was a poll:

**Do you wish for Earth to be rid of the Magius: Yes or no?**

Next to the Councilor is a chart that depicts how many answered yes, and how many answered no.

"Now we'll see. Does humanity wants to be free to face the uncertain future… or remain in our cradle, towards a blissful prosperity."

And for a moment, everyone seemingly watched in held breath.

And then…

To the horror of everyone, the first to trickle up… was the chart depicting the No.

The Councilor smirked.

"What…?" Satomi gasped in disbelief.

"It's only just 1!" Shoko smirked.

"No. Not just one…" Satomi rebuked. "It's **one percent**. One percent of human's 7.5 billion population refuse to be free of the Magius. That's… 75 million people who has chosen no!"

And to their horror, that percentage continue to increase. 2%... 3%... 5%... And it continues to rise at an increasingly rapid pace. Before they knew it, it had reached 30% vs 0, and increasing.

The students grew more horrified as the number increased higher and higher. Raizo growled in anger. "OI! YOU RIGGED THIS DIDN'T YOU!? I KEEP PRESSING YES! BUT THE CHART DIDN'T GROW AN INCH!" "Yeah me to!" "Me to!" Some of the students of the Sakimori high did unanimously chose yes as soon as the poll showed up. 

**36% - 0**

The Councilor hardly care of their yells. "What is a single voice against the roar of millions? If you go against the stream, you will be nothing but an outcast. Forever alone, a stranger in a world that go against you."

**44% - 0**

At this point, even some of the students of the Sakimori high chose No. A-Drei frowned in terrible anger as he watched how even his answer of yes did nothing. Akira, still squirming in the grips of her panic attack, peeked at A-drei's phone.

**57% - 0**

It was a total landslide in favor of no. Even the Valvrave pilots, Yusuke pressed no as well. Much to Inuzuka's anger. "YUSUKE!?" 

"If they leave… humanity will be devastated!" Yusuke cringed. "We'll tear each other apart! You know this!"

In the Auditorium, Raizo growled in anger. "Fuck this shit!" And he ran off the Auditorium, going who knows where.

**76% - 0**

At this point it hardly mattered. More than half of the human population had chosen no. Even those who initially contemplated strongly to press Yes saw the futility of defying the majority vote and chose no as well.

**85% - 0**

"Do you see now?" The Councilor stated in triumph. "Humans don't care about their freedom. They want to be ruled. They don't care if they have to sacrifice a fraction of their number, as long as their bountiful prosperous life continued."

**90% - 0**

"To the leaders of the world whom I know for certain is part of this… hilarious VVV project… I say this: You're not defying us, really. You're defying the will of the entire human race."

**93% - 0**

Even Pino despaired. She understands why of course. It's not problem of how their people had been united in such a twisted distorted way. But the Magius had molly coddled humanity for far too long. They've become reliant on Magius council, on their advices and directions… they've become unable to make their own choices.

**98% - 0**

And the most painful part? It was all her fault.

Suddenly, that choice appeared before her. **Do you wish for Earth to be rid of the Magius: Yes or no?**

Pino's eyes went bloodshot in pure rage. **"You dare… test me!?"**

"This is the way of the current world, Queen Pino. Everyone, even the Queen, will be held accountable for the words of their voice."

Pino lifted her finger towards the option… everyone held their breath…

"**I think I understand something."** Pino answered with her eyes hidden beneath the bangs of her hair. **"I understand now why humans created evil deities. They created them to find something to redirect their excessive hate from each other. Because when a human are so consumed by their hatred, it will either destroy themselves… or the object of their hate. When the latter happens, unbridled excessive hate that is without aim or control will lead to destruction of all. That's why they created the evil deities. They created a creature that cannot be destroyed no matter how much hate they throw at it, thus preventing them from being consumed by their hate. Regrettably… our people never tried to do this."** Pino raised her head and showed how her bloodshot furious eyes are crying tears of hate. Unbridled fury and hate. **"Damn you. Damn you all for making me do this."** When she looked at her former subjects, the fury of the Queen was so great; every electronic device in the whole world momentarily suffered a slight malfunction, even the lamps dimmed on and off. So great was her power, so terrible was her fury. It was momentary though.

And she picked Yes.

Everyone gasped.

The Councilor feigned surprise and sorrow. "You sadden us, My Queen. You would rather see this world and its indigenous species fall together with what's left of our race?"

Pino didn't answer, but her eyes say it all.

"Then you understand of course, My Queen, why we cannot let you off."

As soon as the Councilor said this, the whole module shook furiously. The students panicked. "Wh… What is this?"

**00000000000000**

Outside…

Yusuke and Inuzuka gasped when suddenly 4 Dorssian Walkit Class Cruiser appeared in front of the module, right out of thin air.

"What the hell!?" Inuzuka's eyes widened.

"S… Stealth Bubble field? I never know Dorssia had that kind of tech!?" Yusuke choked.

"No… Wait… I don't think this is Dorssia."

Indeed, unlike the usual red color scheme of the standard Walkit class, this Walkit Cruisers are colored in purple and green. Closer observation also showed that the Space ships had been modified. Notable among them are the change in its propulsion system. Instead of the ignition boosters used by conventional spaceship, all fours ships used something strangely similar to 01's wing, glowing brightly green leaving a trail of pink hard afterglow. The symbol used was different. It's not Dorssian. Instead, a green glowing luminescent symbol that looked like a four leaved clover… or to be more precise, the symbol that represents the neon green glowing head crests that is the signature of the Valvraves.

All four ships launched a whole swarm of Waffes, colored in purple and green. Other than color, the Waffe is slightly different with that of Dorssian Waffes… in that their shields seems to be partially composed by the same Clear Fossil material that composed 05's shield, and instead of rectangular halves of a square, their shields are halves of a hexagon shape. And there seems to be no manned Waffe. All of them are unmanned. Their designs are rounder and more compact, with purple and neon green coloration, and while they don't have any visible cockpit their 'head' features a single neon green glowing visor, a sense nerve not unlike that found on Valvrave. And unlike the usual ignition type boosters used by conventional Waffes, this one utilized a pink hard afterglow propulsion system, the same used by Valvraves, making them even faster than normal Waffes. Another point of similarity is that they also possess exhaust vents at the back of the unit. The Mag-Waffes are armed with a pair of Gatling gun, a slug gun, a pincer, or a combination of the three. That seems conventional enough… except the fact they all use the Hard-light ammunition.

The Mag-Waffe rained the two Valvraves with a rain of hardlight bullet storm. With 05's shield, Inuzuka managed to block most of them easily enough… but… hardlight ammo is significantly hotter than solid projectiles. Even 05's high heat tolerance was severely tested with the temperature rising rapidly to 36 within a few full blow salvoes. "The heck!?" 05 returned fire, but the Waffe's Clear fossil shields can easily blocked the shots. She dodged several more, blocked some, and then Inuzuka saw a chance and fired at the main ship. The multiple hardlight arrows merged into one large blast powerful enough to blew up the whole bridge, but much to her horror, it barely dented the Magius Cruiser's bridge armor. "Yusuke, be careful! Those things are a hell lot tougher than it looked!"

With the Cruisers effectively invulnerable to their attacks, they had no choice but to concentrate on the small fries. Each Walkit also launched a pair of modified Ideal Annihilators. Like the Mag-Waffes, they've been significantly modified to utilize the same pink Hard Afterglow propulsion, with green and dark purple coloration, in addition of being unmanned. In fact, instead of the usual cockpit head, they added an extra hardpoint appendage to mount additional weaponry and targeting system. The shoulder wings had been replaced with the same green material that composed Valvrave 01's wings, albeit heavily reinforced with heavy armor and Clear Fossil plates. Their main weapons are a pair of scissor swords, with a built in three barreled Gatling cannon at its base, as well as a strip of sense nerve for targeting system. The outer blade heated up till it glows red and then it launched the said cable controlled blade towards the defending 05.

"INUZUKA-SENPAI!" 03 charged in and smashed the scissor blade off track, using its Armstronger. But punching the hot blade yielded some consequences. 03's thermal gauge rise from 20 to 35 with a single punch. "What!?" The Mag-Ideal closed their distance and swing its scissor sword hard. 03 blocked the attack, but it was pushed back violently. The thermal gauge rise to 55 instantly. Even worse, the Mag-Ideal quickly dispersed the Electromagnetic Boomerang swarm. Both valvraves were hit by the boomerang. "These things…" Yusuke suddenly realized. "They're using the same tech as the Valvraves!"

"If they're also a valvrave, then they also have the same weakness! Overheat them!" Inuzuka open fire rapidly at the Mag-Waffes. They merely gathered together and interlocked their hexagonal shields. Yusuke follows through and charged the Armstronger cannon before firing at full power. The yellow blast joined together forming a huge energy stream, reinforcing the rain of Bolt Phalanx's blue hard-light arrow volley. The barrage could've easily punched through a normal Walkit class' armor, and yet it didn't even dent the clear fossil shield. However, it caused all the Mag Waffe's rear exhaust vents to glow orange, they've all been thoroughly overheated, at that point, they all looked like they went haywire…

"I knew it." Inuzuka grinned. "They have the exact same weakness as we are."

But Yusuke think differently. Those Waffe's twitching seems strange… and why is their neon green visor flashes on and off… at an increasing frequency?

Yusuke's curiosity was answered when each of the malfunctioning and overheating Mag-Waffe suddenly exploded in a huge and eerie green explosion with enough force to knock both Valvraves back. And when the whole set exploded, 05 could barely blocked the blast with its shield, and 03 was completely thrown off all the way back to the Module, smashing through its anti asteroid barrier and cracked the weather glass dome. The pilot was knocked unconscious. However, the worst damage is to their thermal gauge. 03's thermal gauge jumped to 70-73, and 05 is very nearly reaching 85-87.

The Potemkin finally went online and starts opening fire, backing up the beleaguered Valvraves. However, their cannon fire did little damage to Mag-Walkit armor. But the Mag-Walkit returned fire with green Rune energy beams, rune warhead missiles, both are weapons using the energy of runes, and virtually outmatched the Potemkin, effectively bombarding the Module… again. However, unlike before, the Module actually defends against the attack. Purple round shields appeared on the dome surface and blocked several blasts, though barely.

**00000000000000**

Inside the Module…

Students panicked and screamed. The other occupants run haphazardly in fear. Raizo felt the shaking and growled. "See? I knew it! They've come again! Fucking idiots!" He quickly ran towards the hangar…

**0000000**

Akira squealed and squirmed when she felt the rumbling. A-Drei looked at the situation and saw how the Module defenses are up. "Ninomiya Takahi, how are our defenses?"

**0000000**

In the Command center, where some of the students who were not in the auditorium were activating the Module's repurposed defenses, lead by Takahi. "Holding! We ain't gonna let any shots through this time!" 

**0000000**

A-Drei nodded. But he also understands that this is just postponing the inevitable. The Electromagnetic barrier which was designed to hold debris at bay won't be able to last long against concentrated Rune blast from a Walkit Main Cannon. He quickly shift his view to outside, where he can see how the Valvraves are faring poorly against Valvrave Tech enhanced Waffes and Ideals. But also noted how all units were unmanned drones.

'Normal Unmanned Waffes from our nation are slaved to a single manned waffes. We designed it that way for efficiency and ease of control using short range wave transmission, allowing the unmanned waffes to respond quickly to pilot command. The choice of using short range transmitter was not only for it to be cost efficient, but also to reduce lag. These valvrave-tech-enhanced Waffes were unmanned… and no manned unit in sight… I guess Valvrave tech clearly allows a greater range of radio control transmission, but it can't be that far… so the transmitter is in those ships… we just need to hack and overwhelm the signal…' A-Drei train of thought made him landed his eyes on the squirming Akira. "Come with me!" Avoiding her kicks (but got hit by one kick to the head) A-Drei lifted Akira over his shoulder and carried her across the corridor towards the hangar as the rumblings grew louder and louder.

**00000000000000**

In the Auditorium, the students were crying and screaming as they felt the rumblings.

Pino was the only calm enough to remain where she floats. **"So you would kill your queen? Is that it?"**

"You leave us no choice my Queen. You stood in opposition of the very ideals and goals you once championed. And that power surge you showed earlier… it was clear to us that even though your power had diminished significantly, they are still substantial. Substantial enough to threaten this world." The Councilor flatly stated. "I'm sorry, My Queen. But please die here."

"**I don't care that you will kill me." **Pino glared.** "But what you're doing to this world is wrong."**

"On the contrary." The Councilor's voice held no remorse. "We're doing this FOR this world. For humanity!"

The barrage from outside intensified and the rumblings grew louder and louder.

Haruto looked at the situation outside and find it is dire. "They need our help! Saki! Get to Carmilla! (GAH!)"

"On it! (Kyaa!) I need a lift though!"

"Right." Haruto and Saki went to 01. Haruto turned it on… and found to his horror, it can't come online without Pino inside. "PINO!"

Pino remained where she is, too lost in her thoughts of how far her people had fallen. She turned up and looked at the council members. **"One more thing… where's Lieselotte and Attlach?"**

L-Elf's eyes widened when he heard one of the name being mentioned.

**00000000000000**

Dorssia…

Lieselotte ran across the corridor, passing many paintings depicting her and the Dorssian royal family throughout the generation. Her face rive with panic and worry. As she reached the end of her destination, she knew the door at the end was locked. But she doesn't care. She lit up her runes, pulling out what little power she had amassed over the centuries.

But then, she stopped midway when Cain opened the door from the other side and stand in her way. She stopped and gritted her teeth. "CAIN! GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

The one eyed man didn't respond.

"IT'S PINO! THEY'RE GOING TO KILL OUR QUEEN! GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

Cain remained unresponsive.

Lieselotte become more desperate. "CAIN! It's Pino, Cain! Ca-…" She couldn't stop herself and uttered his TRUE name: **"ATTLACH!" **

**00000000000000**

The Councilor coldly replied. "Humans believed in the concept of life after death, Afterlife. If we have such thing… you will meet them again there, My Queen."

Pino gritted her teeth.

**00000000000000**

Outside… things get steadily worse.

Yusuke woke up only to find 05 is right in front of 03, overheating pretty badly, using its shield to protect enemy barrage. His thermal gauge is on the range of 87-88.

"Inuzuka…senpai?" 

"Yo, sleepy head." Inuzuka grinned amidst the blaring of the warning sound of 05's console. "What took you so long?" Her thermal gauge is already reaching 97-98… her unit is close to overheating.

"Senpai!" Yusuke looked at the situation. "Where's 01 and 04?"

"I don't know… but a little help would be nice!" Inuzuka grunted.

"No! We have to pull back! We can't fight all of them ourselves!"

"That's exactly what we've been doing." Inuzuka grinned. "That's the way we've been doing it. We beat the odds when the world is against us."

"Senpai… I…"

"We're holy spirits remember? We've been touched by Gods…" 05 returned fire, ignoring the damage it has been receiving. "So we beat the odds." 05 finally reached 99 to 100. "Could use a little shower here girls!"

**00000000000000**

Takahi and her girls had been trained to do this, in case of Valvrave reaching heat. Inspired with the method used by L-Elf a little earlier, they jury rigged the trash ejector system used to send away compact trash, this time, they sent out a block of ice taken from the water supply that formed their ocean.

**00000000000000**

The ice was ejected and headed straight to 05 and the stuck 03. Upon hitting 05's overheating figure, the ice melted instantly, cooling off both units in a spray of melted ice and water. The problem is to melt the ice instantly requires one Valvrave to be overheating.

Regardless, 05's temperature lowered to a mild 67-69, 03 cooled down to 59-62. However, with the amount of overheating weapons sent their way, this won't mean much. Yusuke knew this.

Inuzuka continued her counter barrage, nonetheless. "Come on Yusuke! RETURN FIRE!" 

Yusuke was literally petrified by fear. When he first piloted the Valvraves, he was overwhelmed by his need to fix stuffs. That momentary bravery and recklessness was further enforced by the fact that the odd, at that time, was in their favor. But now… just two machines halfway to overheating, against this much enemy firepower… all thoughts of fighting back goes out of the window. With trembling fingers, Yusuke aimed the Armstronger cannons. They split up into 8 hands, and start firing back in a salvo of energy blast. But Yusuke could barely hit anything, suddenly a Waffe opened fire from the flank, destroying 2 of his arms. Yusuke finally panicked and attempted to run away from the battle; despite the fact his Valvrave is still combat effective.

03 flew away from the 05, braving the hailstorm of gunfire.

"Y…Yusuke!" Inuzuka grunted in annoyance. But he understands how Yusuke feels. He's a mechanic not a combatant. Suddenly being asked to fight such an exceedingly uneven odd after merely surviving a single battle is a bit too much to ask… Of course this is his second battle too, but… 03 doesn't have 05's defensive capability…

Unfortunately, by breaking away from 05's defenses, Yusuke made himself an easier target. The barrage hit 03 multiple times.

**0000000**

At about the same time, A-drei is still running with a still panicking Akira on his shoulder.

"W-W-WHERE ARE YOU… T-T-TAKING… ME?" She screamed.

"To Valvrave 06. You're going to pilot it." A-drei answered short. He was so focused on this goal, he chose to ignore Akira's squirming, and he didn't even bat an eye when he ran across Raizo. Raizo didn't understand what's going on, but he knew something was wrong when he saw A-Drei carrying a Sakimori student… albeit he had never seen that one before. "OI! DORSSIAN BASTARD! THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?" What's more, he noticed that A-Drei is going to the same direction he's going, the Hangar.

A-Drei has no time to answer, and he kept running.

"WAAAIT!" Raizo immediately gave chase. 

Much to Raizo's disbelief, despite A-Drei's additional baggage, he completely outran him. By the time Raizo spent his breath as he arrived at the hangar, a Splicer carrying A-Drei and Akira had just taken off, leaving him to eat its dust.

"Oh you gotta be kidding me… this guy and that guy… are those Dorssian soldier monsters or somethin'?" At about the same time, Raizo witnessed the 03 were having the snot beaten out of him by the Magius fleet. "Yusuke…? The hell are you doin'?"

**0000000**

A-Drei and Akira boarded the splicer and launched straight into a chaotic battle. He witnessed how 03 were being shot down until it finally crash landed right into the hangar, barely missing him. The Module 77 automated system quickly dragged the damaged Valvrave inside for repairs. He harrumphed and stepped on the throttle, the Splicer zoomed across the storm of bullets. His destination is the hangar of the Potemkin, where 06 are on standby.

The unmanned Waffes and Ideals were quick to notice the fighter, and they opened fire at it. A-Drei found himself hard pressed to dodge. "Those Magius make a nice autopilot program…" The Splicer barely survived the barrage, but just a moment from reaching the hangar, a few shots hit its left wing. A-Drei grunted as he steered the crashing plane into the hangar, barely missing a cannon fire from the Ideal. The ship was a total wreck when it landed and grind the hangar floor. The safety bag blew up on the occupants faces to protect them from injury. When the ship crashed, the safety bag shrunk back into the console. The ship is done.

But the most important thing, is that both of its occupants are in one piece. A-Drei unstrapped himself and pointed a gun at a curling Akira. "Renbokuji Akira! You have to pilot 06!"

But as A-Drei await her response, Akira fell further into panic.

**0000000**

Raizo was still thinking about how to chase that damn Dorssian with nothing he can use when a smoking hot 03 were being cart wheeled in into the hangar. The hangar crew with special suit quickly took the hose and sprayed the overheating Valvrave with cooling agent. Raizo float towards it and stopped when he felt the heat searing his body, even through his space suit. This gave him time to observe 03's condition. Apart from the fact that the Armstronger Cannons suffered massive damage, 03 is practically without a scratch. "This guy ain't damaged by the least…?"

Once 03's temperature had cooled off well enough to a lukewarm state, Raizo floated towards the cockpit, despite the yells from the crew. "Oi! You're not supposed to get in there!"

"JUST SHUDDUP AND FIX THIS GUY! HE NEEDS TO GO OUT THERE AGAIN!"

He opened the cockpit and beheld the sight of Yusuke, crying and squirming with snot and tears floating inside his helmet and clattering teeth.

"YUSUKE!? THE FUCK ARE YOU DOIN?"

"I'm scared… I'm scared… I'm scared… No more… No more… No More…"

**00000000000000**

The students in the auditorium were completely terrfied, the girls hugged one another and cried as the rumblings outside grew louder and louder.

Pino closed her eyes in despair. Until…

"And click…" Pino looked at Shoko who made her choice. And her choice is: "…No!"

Haruto and Saki jawdropped…

Pino's eyes widened. Of course with this odd, choosing yes by now is laughable… but she did not expect Shoko of all people to press No. **"Shoko-chan?"**

"What? They haven't retracted the poll!"

"Shoko… why?" Haruto gaped.

"Are you guys stupid?" Shoko stated at the monitor, addressing the council. "The poll says: **Do you wish to be rid of the Magius: Yes or no?** Right? Well of course I would've pressed No! If I say I wish to be rid of Magius, well check this out." Shoko pointed at Haruto and Saki. "My childhood friend who is already as good as my little brother, and his girlfriend, who's already as good as my sister in law are MAGIUS! And don't get me started on the children they'll be poppin' out soon!"

Haruto and Saki blushed furiously. Judging by the number of times they've done it, it's not impossible…

**00000000000000**

The situation outside worsened, and A-Drei wouldn't wait anymore. He grabbed Akira and carried her to the docked 06.

Soon, he threw her into the cockpit and activated the console for her.

**Do you wish to resign your humanity? Yes or No?**

"Hurry up and answer the question, Renbokuji Akira!" A-Drei cocked the gun at Akira. "We don't have much time!"

"Don't want… don't want!" 

"This is not a request!" A-Drei turned Akira around and shoved a gun to her head to make his point. "Pilot it, or I'll kill you and I'll grab someone else who can!"

Akira looked terrified… but not of the gun. She was terrified over something else. "Don't want… don't want… don't want…"

Even A-Drei realized this too. He dropped his gun. "What is wrong with you? You're scared… but not of my gun… and not of me either…" A-Drei looked at Akira's feature: thin due to malnutrition, pale skin due to lack of contact with sunlight, acute case of sleep deprivation, resulting in mental instability… specifically Anxiety attacks. Cause… something traumatic… probably childhood trauma. "Are you… scared of humans?"

Akira tearful eyes widened but she curled back into a ball, terrified.

A-Drei looked at this terrified look… and suddenly… came the understanding. She's prolly around 15… and yet she already showed such degree of skill and experience with computers and programming. Not the kind of skill that stereotypical people could easily understand, and not something someone, no matter how talented, can mature in one or two years. Clearly, she's what one would call prodigal genius ever since she was young. Too young. A girl who's been thinking way ahead of anyone of her age… she became alienated from the world… And then… probably out of jealousy and envy of her peers who cannot see the world the way she did, they isolated her… harass her…

Just like…

**00000000000000**

**98% - 0**

"If I choose yes on that poll… then that means I have to kick them out of Earth now, would I? So how could I choose that!? They're my friends and family for cryin' out loud!" And then Shoko turned to Pino. "And you! Who gave you permission to take over this speech? Last I checked, I'm the one who started this speech! So it's mine to finish, no?"

Pino blinked several times in confusion, and then she dumbly nodded as she gave way for Shoko.

Shoko looked at the Council defiantly. Soon, the pictures allover the world showed the Council and Shoko, ready to continue the verbal duke out.

"This speech isn't about how we wanted the Magius to be kicked out of our world. No. Personally I don't mind to have extraterrestrial ghost race as a neighbor. It's kinda cool actually. Earth is big enough for everyone. What we DO take issue, is having a bunch of dumbasses like you councilors of the Council of 101 to run things for us!"

**00000000000000**

"OI! YUSUKE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING, CRAWLING LIKE A LOSER DOWN THERE? INUZUKA-SENPAI NEEDS HELP OUT THERE!"

"I can't do it! I can't do it!"

"Stop your whinnin and get yer ass back in the fight!"

"I'M A MECHANIC DAMN IT!" Yusuke screeched. "…I… I fix stuff! Okay!? Something breaks, I tinker with it, and that's it! THAT'S ALL I CAN DO! I can't… I can't fight… not like this… I mean… did you see that poll!? We're fighting against the whole god-damn world!"

"So what of it!?" Raizo roared. "YOU'RE A VALVRAVE PILOT! YOU'RE A GODDAMN IMMORTAL!"

"But I can't! I can't!" Yusuke breaks down crying… "I can't do it! I can't do it…"

"Geh… you…" Raizo gaped.

**00000000000000**

**98% - 0**

Everyone from the Council growled in anger. "You dare call us dumbasses? Us? The wisest of the Magius who had ruled your world since-"

"YES! I call YOU all DUMBASSES! Why? Because you're being ruled by a DUMBASS fairy Queen!"

Pino blinked in sheer confusion as she smiled nervously. **"Me?" **She pointed at herself. **"A dumbass fairy queen?"**

"YES! How else would you describe a Queen who lost control of her own ministers? Now I know why you and father can get along, both of your programs and cabinets are equally DUMB! My father who was dumb enough to authorize human experimentations, and you who are dumb enough to leave your people alone and now they overruled you!"

Ryuuji twitched and laughed nervously, while Pino rolled her eyes.

**00000000000000**

"…I used to be scared of humans too."

Akira stopped and fidgeted as she turn to give A-Drei a peek.

His fierce look was gone, replaced with a solemn look. "…they fear you, because you were different. And you were different not because you choose to be… that's how you are. You tried your best to blend in, but you can't make them see the world your way, and they won't give you a chance. You became a lonely solitary existence. A stranger in a world full of strangers."

"_All hail to Mr. Prince!" "Hahahahah!" "Hey Mr. Prince! You got any butler that can wipe your ass for you!?" "You should never been born!" _

"But you know what I figure out? I may be scared of them… but in truth… they're more scared of me." A-Drei bent his head down. "They're scared of me because they can't understand me. And since they can't understand me, they feel like they can't control me, so they try to subdue me, through violence."

Akira stopped trembling and looked at A-Drei clearly now.

"Do you know what Karstein facility is?" Akira shook her head. A-Drei explained briefly. "It is a secret training facility. Children are being put through a harsh training regime, inhuman and merciless, with only 5% survival rate. They put me there when I was young, in a hope that I would die. And I didn't. I survived and grew strong. Strong enough to face anything the world will throw at me, including those who wanted me dead."

Akira frowned. "M-m-me… N-n-n-not… s-strong… cannot… s-survive."

"I found out later than you don't have to be strong to survive." A-Drei gently noted. "You just have to be brave enough to take a step forward and go at it."

"N-n-not… b-b-brave enough…"

"Not for yourself then." A-Drei activated his phone. The screen now showed Shoko and the Council duking it out. "Be brave now… for your friends." And A-Drei showed Akira the verbal battle between Shoko against the Council.

Akira's eyes widened. "Sh-shoko-chan?"

**00000000000000**

**98% - 0**

Somehow, Shoko's ranting had caused the whole human race to stop voting, listening to her screams.

"You can change the question of course." Shoko glared at the monitor. "Instead of be rid of Magius, you can ask if we want to be rid of YOU. You the Council of 101! And this time don't you dare say Magius vote doesn't count!" Shoko pointed at the council. "But that's fine. The first question is just as good. To all of you out there, listen. I choose no, because my family, my friends are Magius. I cannot choose the independence of humanity over them. They meant the world for me." Shoko smiled confidently. "However, I'd like to point out that these dumbasses are fooling you. They make it as if there's only yes or no. Well, think it again buddy! THERE ARE THREE CHOICES!"

"What are you blabbering about-"

Shoko ignored the councilor and raised her handphone. "You can pick yes, or no… or… this." She dropped the phone and step on it until it breaks. "Choose: NEITHER."

**00000000000000**

"You're the guy with the guts to beat the crap out of me! Me, THUNDER! The strongest man in Sakimori High!"

"I don't know what came over me! I'm sorry!"

"I don't want your apology! YOU HAD TO FIGHT, DAMN IT!"

"I CAN'T FIGHT THE WHOLE WORLD!" Yusuke screamed. In his panic, he turned on the console and showed Raizo the impossible odd that was presented on the chart before them. 98% of the world vs 0 them. "LOOK AT THIS! LOOK! 98% of every human in the world is against us!? HOW CAN WE WIN AGAINST SOMETHING LIKE THAT!?" 

"LIKE I GIVE A FUCK! WHO CARES ABOUT WHAT THOSE YELLOW BELLIED, PANSY WANSY CO… waitdaminute… what's happenin in there?"

"Huh?"

Raizo and Yusuke looked at the screen.

**00000000000000**

**98% - 0**

And the people allover the world stopped and watched.

"This poll was given to you by the council. In other words, it's also another form of control. And the main point of this speech, is to show you all that we don't have to follow through with the council wishes any longer. So by not choosing, that means you reject the wisdom of the council. Make your own damn mind on what to do with the fact that the Magius lived among you." Shoko grinned wide. "So… choose!"

The students looked at each other. They were a bit uncertain… and then…

CRACK! CRACK!

Everyone turned and saw Haruto and Saki just smashed their phones and step on it, breaking it. "I choose neither." Haruto smiled. 

"Me too." Saki grinned.

The students grinned at one another. And then another student smashed their phone to the ground and step on it as well. And then another… and another… and another… soon, every student in the auditorium began smashing their phones to the ground, stepping on them. Kibukawa asked Rion to put his phone in front of his wheelchair. By that same token, Rion also put hers in the way before Kibukawa excitedly steamrolled them all.

Everywhere around the world, everyone laughed and mimicked Shoko's answer: drop their phone and crush it underfoot. Some who's still conflicted by the choice forgo choosing and drop it to the ground and crush it.

Crush, crush, crush…

The 98% - 0 comparison stopped completely, and it stuck there.

Ryuuji watched in admiration. Suddenly, his phone ring. He opened it… it was Jeffry Anderson. "Why hello, Jeffry! What winds brings you to call a dead man's cell phone?" 

"_Ryuuji! Stop your crazy ass daughter! Don't let her anger the Council any more than this! Take over, and tell the Council that you're going to give everything about the VVV project to them-"_

"That's not going to happen Jeffry." Ryuuji smiled.

"_The VVV project is our-"_

"Wrong. It **was** our project. But… these children that we've remade… they grew, and grew… into this. All this. It has become something more than what we intended them to become. A new hope. A new future. A different future than that we envisioned. Neither you, me, Amadeus nor even the Council can determine their destiny anymore. They're forging their own now." Ryuuji smiled. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some very important business to attend to and it cannot wait."

"_What business?"_

Ryuuji smiled. "Crushing my cellphone in support of my crazy ass daughter. Don't call this number again." Ryuuji slammed the phone to the ground and stepped on it. And then he smiled ear to ear in relief, as if he just removed a big load off his back.

Shoko looked in triumph as the comparison of 98 vs 0 didn't move anymore by an inch. A sign that not only it meant 2% of the world agrees with her, there are probably pockets of the 98% who also agrees with her. "Well, how bout that?"

"_Irresponsible."_

"?" 

"_Irresponsible!" _The Councilor roared. _"Not choosing? What kind of irresponsible answer is that? You're running away from the matter at hand!"_

"I'm not running away! I'm reminding you lot of the real matter at hand!" Shoko smirked. "How many times do I have to tell you? This isn't about how we don't want the Magius in our world, we just don't want _**YOU**_ in it!"

"_We are the defenders of the Magius race! Without us, the Magius race is as good as dead!" _

"Didn't you say you're doing this for humanity?" Shoko smirked.

The Councilor flabbergasted.

"You call me irresponsible? I'm a **17 year old** for cryin' out loud! I'm a teenager! I'm SUPPOSED to be irresponsible! I'm supposed to play all day and let the adults made the decision!"

"_You think you can change the world acting like that!?"  
_

"**Let me stop you right there, Councilor." **Pino smiled wide. **"For centuries the council had remained hidden. Three of the earth's most powerful political leader spent 20 years in their convoluted scheme to expose you, only to be doomed to fail from the start. But with one speech, Shoko-chan did what the so called most powerful men in the world had failed to do. Try? She just changed the world right in your face!" **

The Councilor's gritted his teeth in anger and he finally lost his composure. "SHUT UP! You're just a fallen disgraced Queen! You're not calling the shots anymore!"

"Finally." Shoko smirked in triumph. "Your true color. This is what it's all about. Just you attempt on a power play, right? To seize control from your queen you dragged our world into the mix. What are you going to do about this, Pino-chan?" Shoko looked at Pino.

Pino shrugged. **"Customarily, I locked them away in a hole for the rest of their natural life until their runes drained out. But… I think I've been sacked. Not exactly a Queen anymore. As you say, I've lost control of my cabinet. Now I'm just a dumbass fairy."**

"No. You're not a queen anymore… but you are their so called Matriarch." Shoko rolled her eyes. "That's to say, you're their mother, and they are your children. And from what I see so far… they're being naughty. Yesma'am, VERY naughty indeed."

"**What do human mothers do to their naughty children?"**

"Obvious isn't it?" 

Shoko turned around and shake her pompom to the screen as she slapped her butt in front of the council. "We gave them a good old fashioned, honest to god, **ASS SPANKING!**" 

The **whole world** snorted.

The Councilor blushed in embarrassment and anger. Never in his long immortal life had he been insulted to such degree._ "You bunch of foolish children…!" _The councilor growled. _"You would defy us? Us and the whole world we commanded!?"_

"We reject you!" Shoko pointed her finger at the screen. "Everyone here in New Jior had unanimously agreed to REJECT YOU AND YOUR RULE! RIGHT EVERYONE!?"

The whole school exploded with roars and cheers. "YEAH!" "THAT'S RIGHT!" "WE DON'T WANT YOU!" "WE'RE WITH YOU SHASHINAMI!" "WE REJECT YOU!" "GO AWAY!"

"_Then we will not stand by it." _The Councilor gave Shoko a terrible look. _"The lot of you are now just a destabilizing agent to the peace of this world. Disappear!" _

As he said this, the attack on the Module grew fiercer and fiercer.

Shoko was unfazed. "If that's the case, then we hereby declare war." She glared with ferocity that rivaled even the fiercest glare from the Magius' former queen. "We, the nation of New Jior hereby declare war on YOU and your world!"

"_You? Declare war on us!? You will declare a war against the whole world! You think you can do this alone!?"  
_

"**She's not alone." **Pino stood forth. **"I'm here. The Valvraves are here. The Novus Magius… and the future of humanity… they're here. We are all here! She's not alone."**

"YEAH!" "LET'S GET THEIR ASSES!" "FREEDOM!" The students roared and punched their fist to the sky in support of Shoko.

**0000000**

And true enough, in some other parts of the world…

ARUS…

"SHASHINAMI! SHASHINAMI! SHASHINAMI!" A bunch of office guys yelled around a bonfire burning their handheld devices.

A bunch kids happily jumping up and down a bunch of their parents cellphones and handheld devices while their parents laughed.

If all his sweat were collected, Jeffry would probably have enough to fill an entire glass.

In Dorssia…

Lieselotte had to pinch herself to stop her from laughing her brains out at the balls this girl is showing.

Cain twitched several times as he looked at the proceeding of this speech.

Amadeus gritted his teeth at this insane girl. "Ridiculous… a little girl!? Just a little girl!?" One speech and she probably had just won about half the world to her side, statistic aside. Already his head began to think of a political angle on how to gain from this. 'How should I approach this… how…' But before he can think further, his secretary looked at him, and gritted her **fanged** teeth…

**0000000**

Shoko declared. "We'll live through this as we always have! We'll survive! Yes we can! And after that, we're coming for you! So get your ass ready!"

"**Because I'm gonna give you a long overdue ASS-SPANKING of a lifetime!" **Pino followed suit.

The Council had enough and shut transmission from their end.

Shoko and Pino looked at each other, grinning like mad. **"He, he, he, yay!"** And they toasted, sending some parks of rune from Pino's hand.

Haruto and Saki also grinned. "Now come on. There's some other thing we need to deal with." Haruto jerked his thumb to his unit.

"**Coming!" **Pino shrank back and transformed once again into that small spark of light and she entered unit 01's core. Once again, the Valvrave went online with Pino showing up on the screen. Cheered by everyone, 01's neon green headcrest lit up and the unit once again went online and flew away.

First, 01 landed near a field where Carmilla is being parked.

After giving Haruto a quick passionate kiss, Saki jumped in to the unit. She turned on the console.

Inside 01… Pino was arranging something. **"Wait Haruto… given the current event… I'm gonna tweak the OS a little…"**

**00000000000000**

The Councilor gnashed his teeth so tight it threatens to break his jaw. "Kill them. KILL THEM ALL NOW!"

**00000000000000**

"Shoko-chan…" Akira looked at the proceeding with awe.

"Look at her." A-Drei nodded. "Just look at her. The daughter of the Prime Minister. She's clearly different from the rest. Born to lead… But she didn't try to blend in… she blend everyone into her pace. Tip my hat off for her." A-Drei couldn't help to say he admired her constitution now. Speaking from one son of a ruler to another. "She has the courage to face the world… but she clearly cannot face it alone."

Akira frowned. "…Shoko-chan…"

And then, Shoko still continued. _"That being said… seeing we just declared war against the whole world… that means… there's a change of plan afoot. We will no longer go to the moon to ask refuge. We will no longer ask for some neutrality area of non violence. Violence is exactly where we're going. Instead of going to the moon to ask for some cover, we're hereby recruiting! Anyone who is willing to join up with us to fight the Council's oppression are welcome to join us on the Moon! This time we'll take the fight to them! AND WE'LL WIN!" _And then, as if knowing Akira would be watching, she yelled. _"Akira-chan! Remember, we promised to go to the supermarket together when we get to the moon?"_

Akira gasped.

"_It might get a bit delayed… but I promise we'll go there together! We're friends aren't we?"  
_

"Shoko…chan…"

At about that time, the attack from outside grew fiercer. The Module shook again, violently this time. Enough to sent the cheering to a full stop and Shoko was thrown off her feet.

"SHOKO-CHAN!" Akira screeched.

"_Enough!" _L-Elf quickly helped her up. _"EVERY STUDENT TO BATTLE STATION! ALL VALVRAVES LAUNCH NOW!" _L-Elf quickly brought Shoko to safety, together with her parents. The Students scurry away towards their pre-described battle stations.

"…!"

Akira bit her lips. And then, she looked at 06's console. Suddenly, the console turned off. A-Drei blinked with worry. "What?" But suddenly, the console went online again… with a slight change…

**00000000000000**

Aboard 03, the same thing also happened.

The screen on 03 turned off momentarily, right at the scene where L-elf harried Shoko away.

Went it went back on… a new question appeared.

**00000000000000**

Saki turned on the Carmilla… there's a bit of a lag… but then a question appeared.

"Hehehe…" Saki smirked seeing the new question.

**00000000000000**

Aboard 05…

Inuzuka laughed so hard, she forgot her own precarious situation. "That's our leader for you! Yeah!"

Aina also chuckled happily in the console. And then, she sensed an upcoming data stream package from Pino. She opened it and smiled at the content.

"**Senpai!"**

"huh?"

Aina showed the update. Inuzuka grinned.

**00000000000000**

Pino smiled to Haruto. **"What do you think?"**

"Well… we definitely know the answer to this." Haruto smiled.

**Valvrave OS Ver. 2.0.**

**It is necessary that you must answer this question before you may utilize this unit:**

**Do you believe in humanity? Yes or No?**

Haruto easily answered the question.

**0000000**

Saki laughed as she clicked the obvious answer.

**0000000**

Inuzuka still managed to smile as he input her answer, even when a cannonblast pushed the thermal gauge to the brink, again.

**0000000**

Raizo couldn't care less. He kicked the still fretting Yusuke and sit on the cockpit.

"Yamada-senpai! If you press it…"

"I'll become like Haruto-aniki right?" Raizo smiled. "Works for me!"

And before Yusuke can explain, without hesitating, Raizo clicked his answer. The sting injected into his neck, and Raizo roared when he felt lightning coursing through his veins.

The now fixed unit 03 suddenly trembled… and then transformed again. It was originally had a black base color with black stripes… and suddenly, as soon as Raizo finished his transformation, the color became inverted. Black becomes yellow, yellow becomes black.

**0000000**

A-Drei holster his sidearm when he saw Akira's finger clicked on the answer and the transformation had runs its course. He looked at the new question. "Interesting question. It's no longer about resigning your humanity… but believing in them… why did you press it? I thought you're scared of humanity."

"D-d-don't believe… in humanity…" Akira groaned as she endured this awkward feeling coursing through her body. "B-b-believe… in Shoko-chan."

06 changed color as the white part of the unit turned black.

**0000000**

Yusuke looked in awe and wonder at Raizo. "Yamada-senpai… you're still alive? You transformed too?"

"Huh? You got a problem with me surviving?"

"No… It's just… I thought every unit should be biometrically locked once the first pilot transformed! I was afraid it might reject you… or worse… kill you!"

"BAKA! Who do you think I am!?" Raizo grinned. "I'm THUNDER! The strongest man in Sakimori High!"

Yusuke smiled nervously and his eyes twitched.

"I get it. You're scared. You can't fight. You fix stuff. That's what you do." Raizo smiled, giving Yusuke a fierce reassuring look. "Problem is… that's what I can't do. That's why I let you take the unit the first time. Because at the time that's what needs be done. But right now, it's less fixing, more breaking. You fix stuff, I'll break it!"

"Senpai…"

Raizo grinned and then he roared at the people outside. "OI! GET OUTTA OF THE WAY! I'M DRIVIN' THIS THING!"

The crew ran away in fear as the 03-Reverse came online and moved to the launchpad.

**0000000**

At about the same time, Saki had activated Carmilla and quickly dashed up to join 01, and the two quickly went outside through the exit beneath the ocean bottom

**0000000**

The Red 01 and Green 04 flew out of the module.

The Yellow 03-Reverse flew out of the launchpad.

The Blue 05 could barely hold on, but it was intact, its absolute defense passed the test.

The Purple 06 fly out of the Potemkin.

All 5 Valvraves of the VVV project had finally came online.

**Mijikai yume wo kasanete**

"Inuzuka-senpai! Are you okay?"

**Eien ni shite yuku hana no**

Inuzuka grinned. "What took you so damn long eh!?"

**Itsuwari ga setsunai**

"Something wrong with unit 03?" Saki frowned.

**Tojikometa inochi no**

"It's me!" Raizo grinned ear to ear.

**Kodoku wo kimi ni sasageru  
**

"Yamada!?" Inuzuka gawked. "Where's Yusuke!?"

**Preserved Rose**

"It's THUNDER!" Raizo barked. "And Yusuke's here." He lifted the extremely mortified Yusuke, who gave a weak wave.

"2 people can pilot one valvrave?" Haruto blinked in surprise. "Then Yamada Senpai… you too… a Novus Magius?"

"Seems that way." Raizo smirked. "AND CALL ME THUNDER!"

**Karada no oku afureru mono wo**

"Who's controlling 06 then?"

**hito to **

The screen opened up. At first it showed A-Drei.

**kaete iru dake**

"A-Drei!?" L-Elf entered the com. "You pilot unit 06?"

**Subete ga "tsumetasugiru" nante **

"Not exactly." A-Drei motioned to his side where Akira is struggling to control this new machine in a way that allows her to remain invisible. She failed of course.

**yubi wo **

"AKIRA!?" Satomi shrieked in horror. "AKIRA! NO! HOW COULD YOU!? YOU… YOU THROW AWAY YOUR HUMANITY!?"

**hodokasenai de**

Shoko gasped in sorrow. "Akira-chan…?" And then Shoko get a message of an incoming text. It's from Akira.

**Hikari to yami no **

**Don't care about humanity. Shoko-chan. I protect. I fight.**

**dochira ni demo ireru**

"Akira-chan…" Shoko smiled sadly.

**Kowagaranai de **

L-Elf quickly took command. "Very well then. All 5 valvraves are online. Listen up guys. We have to win this fight. This is the first battle against the Council. Against the World!"

**nozomanu asa wa **

"Do you understand? We just declared war against the whole world, and now they are watching. We must win to show the world that we can do it!"

**mou konai**

"If we lose, we'll all die anyway." Inuzuka laughed.

**Azayaka dake wo **

"Do or die." Saki snorted. "Considering we're immortals, saying something like that does seem odd."

**kurikaeshi**

"Koraa! COME AND GET ME WORLD! THUNDER IS READY!" Raizo roared. "Yay~!" Yusuke peeped.**  
**

**Tsunagari owari **

"Everyone, focus!" A-Drei spoke, while Akira quickly familiarizes herself with the system. 06's main weapon caught her eye. 'Weapon… Hummingbird. I see… this is my weapon… Okay!'

**kimi wa mata…  
**

"We've unveiled all the lies in the world." Haruto chuckled. "Now let's live through it!"

**Mijikai yume wo kasanete  
**

"First priority, unit 05 had suffered critical damage. That unit is crucial to the battle ahead. 03, Yusuke Otamaya, fix it! 01, 04, protect them. 06, stay in the rear!" L-Elf gave the instruction.

**Eien ni shite yuku hana no**

Raizo understand and the 03 moved and position itself right next to the damaged 05. He switched control to Yusuke. Yusuke mourned. "Yamada-senpai… I'm sorry… I…"

"Yusuke! Man up now! You're needed! Don't run away again, okay!?"

"O-Okay!" Yusuke took control of the 03. As if recognizing the change in pilot, 03 reverted back to its original color. Its armstronger arms split into 8 and they start performing battlefield repairs on 05.

**Itsuwari ga setsunaku**

While this happens, 01 and 04 engaged the enemy. Before they do so, Inzuka warned them. "Haruto! Be careful! They're like Valvraves, but they'll explode when they're overheated!" She quickly sent something to aid 01 and 04's defenses. "Here, use this!" 05 detached its left Clear Fossil shields, giving the left to Haruto.

"Roger." 01 put the shell on his shoulder before he pulled out the Vurutoga and engaged at the distance. Setting the blast to full power, the Furutoga fired a massive green rune energy that punctured multiple Mag-Waffes in one shot. The blast from the Vurutoga overheated their systems within moments and they exploded full force in a massive violent neon green light. The massive explosion also caught several Waffe, resulting in a chain reaction that severely damaged an Ideal. A scissor sword went straight to 05, but Haruto quickly defended with the Clear Fossil shield. "Bastards!" And he returned fire with the Vurutoga.

**Kobamu sekai wo kizutsukeru  
**

Carmilla dueled two Mag-Ideals all at once. Using her high speed thrust vectoring; she dodged and weaved amidst the barrage of scissor blades. She threw her spindle knuckle and the wheel cut through the strings of the extended scissors midflight. Before the Mag ideal can withdraw some of its extended scissors, Carmilla pushed forward and throw her spindle knuckle, ripping the chest of a Mag Ideal and quickly jumped away, leaving the heavily damaged drone to explode full force.

"They're unmanned drones? Seriously? Is that all these Magius GOT!?" Saki scoffed. Seriously, after handling Dorssian elite pilots, unmanned drones, no matter how advanced, even if they're enhanced with Valvrave tech, seem like a joke by comparison.

**Negau nara misaseru**

"Move back to that area." A-Drei instructed. Akira followed through and moved 06 behind 03, still in the middle of repairing 05. As soon as they stopped, Akira quickly went to work. She typed the console of 06 lightning fast. As expected, with an actual pilot at the helm, 06's electronic warfare capability increase tenfold. Within seconds, Akira had found the signal controlling the unmanned units. 'Need to intercept the system… but… there are several batches of drones, each communicating using a different signal. Can't hack them all at once. Must intercept signal, do it one batch at a time.' Akira began her hack.

06's Sense nerves allover its body grew brightly green as the whole unit hums.

**Dakara tooku kienai de  
**

01 is on a rampage. Using the Vurutoga at a burst rapid fire mode, it managed to keep a suppressive fire on the Waffes with a storm of hard light ammo. It cannot exactly penetrate the shield per se, but it did rapidly whittle their thermal gauge, causing them to self destruct prematurely. Two ideals suddenly charged in from both sides, trying to flank him. He flipped a Z-Edge short katana out of the Vurutoga and throw it at the first Mag-ideal's main Sense Nerve with one hand while open fire at the other Ideal using Vurutoga with the other, also knocking out its main sensor. Both Ideals momentarily flying blind, 01 used the Bladed Baiken and launched the cable. The Scythe managed to hook one Waffe. 01 pulled it down as it charged upward, effectively substituting himself with a waffe, which he quickly barraged to the point of overheat. By the time the two Ideals had switched to back up sensors, the Waffe is on their collision course and ready to explode. All three was destroyed instantly.

**Kimi ga miru ashita no**

At the moment, Yusuke is nearly finished fixing 05. "Oi! I'm almost done! Somebody send a new shield here!"

"_Gotcha!"_ The hangar crew in Potemkin yelled. Potemkin maintained its barrage of fire while closing in on the Valvraves. As soon as they're in range, an unmanned Waffe carrying a package containing the requested spare parts launched out.

Meanwhile, the students had manned the Module's defenses and now start opening fire. While it didn't do much good, a concentrated burst of the autocannons managed to take out a few Waffes.

**Atarashii ibuki wo**

Carmilla danced left and right, dodging bullets and missiles while her spindle knuckle wrecking havoc amidst the enemy. When Saki noticed the Ideal is preparing to launch the damned boomerangs, she now know well enough to steer clear. Keeping range, she sent the Spindle Knuckle forward. Seeing she's still out of range, the Ideal opened fire, attempting to destroy the incoming projectile. Saki controlled the spinning spindle manually to dodge the attacks and headed straight towards the launcher, alas, this leave her open to attack.

**Nobashita ude ni mukaeru **

At about the same time, Akira had cracked the signal of the first batch, giving her control to over 20 or so Mag Waffes. She quickly put them to good use by giving 04 the much needed protection. The help came just in time as an Ideal had just opened fire at the green Valvrave. Said Ideal was quickly chased by 01 who quickly engaged it.

A-Drei also observed the situation and give advices to Akira who obviously had no combat experience. "Concentrate on supporting 04. Out of all Valvraves, she's the fastest, but doesn't have much firepower and she has the lightest armor. Remember to keep the Waffe at a safe distance. They explode violently when they overheat. Use them as suicide pawn if needs be." In fact, Akira put the last advice into practice immediately by ramming the Mag Waffe to other Mag-Waffe that wasn't under her control. She took out nearly half of the remaining Waffe in the process.

**hanasanai  
**

Suddenly, multiple blue hardlight projectiles mixed with a huge pair of yellow energy streams barraged the enemy fleet.

03 and 05 is back in game. 03 are once again in its reverse mode, a sign that Raizo is piloting it. This was further proven with how, in stark difference with its previously defensive stance, the 03-Reverse aggressively, and recklessly, fired its Armstrong cannon again and again. "HORAHORAHORA! GUESS WHO'S BACK YA MAGIUS SONS OF BITCHES!" 03's armstronger split into 8 and fired in a rapid barrage of large Yellow Hardlight slug bullets, destroying Waffes left and right.

"Yamada-senpai! Calm down! You're overheating the Valvraves!" Yusuke fretted. The remaining Waffes were easily overwhelmed by 03 and 05's combined firepower.

In fact, when Haruto beheaded the last Ideal and fired on its exposed cavity, destroying it, all Valvraves' thermal gauge is in the vicinity of 67-70 to 80-83. However, the remaining Mag-Waffe shouldn't pose much of a threat. But even with that, they still can't damage the Walkits per se. And they're still gaining heat.

Pino glanced at the modified Walkit's armor. **"They mixed the ship's alloy molecularly with Clear Fossil. You can't penetrate that armor with your current equipment. You might need to fire the Twin Harakiri Cannon… again. You'll have to feed again after this… sorry." **

Haruto understand, but he still felt something weird. "Awkward… they should've known what we're capable of… so why… waste unmanned drones on us…?"

It was then, aboard 06, Akira detected something really bad when she was cracking the enemy's transmission. Upon realizing what this meant, she screamed and squealed in panic, much to A-drei's confusion. "Renbokuji Akira… what?" Akira typed furiously, hacking through what A-Drei recognized as Potemkin navigation system. He may not understand computers, but he understand combat maneuver and he quickly understand what Akira was trying to do, and her reason to do it. "Move the Potemkin over there, quickly!" He quickly grabbed the com and screamed: "EVERYONE! GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

The other Valvrave pilots also blinked. Suddenly, from behind the Module and the Potemkin, a massive energy built up appeared right out of thin air.

At the about the same time, Potemkin control system was taken over by Akira.

The energy built up erupts, unleashing a gigantic stream of green energy beam that headed straight at the seemingly unaware Potemkin.

Luckily, at the last minute Akira activated the emergency booster. The said hijacked Dorssian warship moved out of the way, barely missing the energy beam at a paper thin margin.

"_Tokishima Haruto! Pull back!"_ L-elf saw the blast and understands what happened.

That was when Haruto also understand the situation. While the first four ships continued to open fire at the Valvraves, three Arus Carrier appeared out of their stealth bubble, right where that huge blast came from. Like the Walkit, they've also been modified with Valvrave tech: Neon green sense nerve, Rune powered arsenal, and Afterglow propulsion system and all… But the biggest difference were this massive cannon transfixed at the center of the carriers. They were brimming green, the light of runes.

Pino was horrified upon seeing those massive cannons. **"Look at that thing… how many humans they suck out to gather the runes needed to power it?"**

The three Mag-Carriers approached the battle in a triangle formation, with one flying above the other two.

They sent in another 10 Mag-Ideal Annihilators, with various kinds of Rune powered weaponries, and about two hundred Mag-Waffes to back them up, not counting the 20 Waffes that boarded 3 of the Ideals. Even worse, there's something different with the way they move. They were faster, and their maneuvers are more complicated, showing an even more advanced AI than before.

This was shown when the Mag-Waffe now actively dodged the Valvrave's barrage of shells. They even still managed to create a wall formation and fired in a phalanx. This was made worse when the 10 Mag ideals fired all their arsenals: beam cannon, auto-cannon, laser net blasters, homing missiles, virtually everything they got. The Valvraves were forced back, and even 01's Clear Fossil shield was accurately shot off his shoulder.

"So this is what they're up to? They're using drones with dumb AIs just to make us heat up?" Inuzuka grunted.

"Talk about overkill…" Saki shrugged as she looked at this number. Worse, the first 4 Walkit sent out their entire stock of Waffes.

"L-Elf… Vent the coolant! We need to cool down!" Haruto grunted as 01 cocked out an overheating thermal charge off the Vurutoga. "And we could use a little plan, right about now!"

L-Elf had just arrived at the command center with Shoko and Satomi, where Takahi had just confer with Haruto's request and sent out another package of cooling ice. L-elf looked at the situation and thought up a plan. "First we need to deal with those 4 Walkits." 

"_Our biggest guns can't touch it."_ Haruto stated. _"And the bigger gun will need some time… though I seriously doubt they'll let me fire it."_

"This isn't about guns. Instead of a bludgeon, we need scalpel, we need control." L-Elf analyzed his options. With 5 specialized Valvraves, the possibility of approach had expanded beyond simply blowing up everything in the way.

**Mukizu no mama tokedasu netsu wo **

Moments later, L-Elf texted his overall planning to the Valvrave pilots. "The heck is this guy thinking?" Raizo twitched.

"You think this can be done?" Haruto asked to L-Elf.

"_It can be done as long as we have all 5 Valvraves."_

**ai wo **

"So be it." Haruto need not further questioning.

"Are you sure?" Inuzuka had her doubts.

"I already said I'll trust him." Haruto smiled. "He led us this far."

**masaguru omoi**

First phase of the plan, 'take out' the first four Walkit.

"We clear on this? No matter what happens to us, the only one that can't get hurt is Akira and 06. Everybody look after Akira, protect her, no matter what!" Haruto stated.

"Roger!" Inuzuka and Raizo nodded.

Satomi had a few last things to say though. _"A-Drei! If Akira loses even one strand of her hair, I'll throttle you six feet under! YOU HEAR ME!?"_

L-Elf grabbed the com from Satomi, much to his chagrin. _"A-Drei! You know what to do!"_

A-Drei nodded. "We'll move to point 7-01." He instructed to Akira. "That thing is modified quite extensively… but not enough to make it completely different from the standard Walkit. The blind spot should remain the same. You can hack safely from there." Akira nodded. A-Drei contacted the other Valvraves. "We're moving!"

**Tsukurimono no hohoemi utagau **

Under A-drei field command, 3 Valvraves dashed towards the 4 Walkits, while 2 remain to stop any stragglers. Unit 06 at the center, protected at the front by 05, 03 provide cover at the back and support fire. 01 and 04 stayed behind to deal with stragglers. In the mean time, Akira had also managed to hack and bring more and more Mag Waffe under her control, sending them to help the other units.

Forget the fact the Waffes are smarter this time. 05 blocked all incoming shots and 03 launched his own barrage. 05 is good at extreme defense and 03 was geared for extreme offense, coupled with the right minded pilot at the helm. At the back, 01 sliced any that came close, destroying them without overheating them while Saki pick up any strays that tried to chase the hacking team. The three colored Valvraves pierced through the wave of Waffes in no time flat and suddenly they're already right underneath the Walkit's nose. Protected by the two Valvraves, 06, as in Akira, goes to work. She slammed the 'head' of the Hummingbird staff, a neon green crest shaped like a bird's beak, at the surface of the Walkit. Of course, the purpose was not to penetrate the armor. A pulse of green circuitry appeared right where 06 hit.

As per the Hummingbird manual, Akira hit it again and again, until the green circuitries were permanently grafted on the surface of the ship. As soon as it happened, Akira can now commence hacking. Unlike before where she remote controlled the Potemkin, with a pilot inside, the hacking signal of 06 is astronomically more potent. Barely seconds, and she's already more firmly in control of the ship than the ship's own crew, and unlike before, they can't change the frequency or do anything to stop her or interfere with her signal: she's as good as piloting the ship personally. By hacking the mothership, she can even hack the whole batch of waffes and send them to attack the other Waffes.

**tsumi ni **

When 06 moved away under cover of the other 2 Valvraves, the hacked Mag-Walkit opened fire at the Mag-Carrier, supporting the beleaguered Potemkin. The other two Walkit quickly understand what happened and intensify their firepower at the incoming Valvraves. Knowing what will happen if they managed to get close. The new Ideals that were sent in by the carriers moved towards the module and the Valvraves. 5 to the hacking team, 3 to the module, 2 to the Potemkin. They easily make short work of the hacked Waffes sent their way.

Now the 5 Ideal Annihilators that wish to go after the hacking team must face 01 and 04. "Saki, get the ones heading to the Module. I'll handle this!"

"Gotcha." Saki went full throttle, and soon, as expected of the fastest Valvrave, she already caught up with the 3 Annihilators attacking the module. "Going somewhere?"

**torawarenagara  
**

01 charged through the barrage of Scissor swords and closed the distance with an Ideal, slashing his Z-Edges on the cables cutting off the scissors. And then he slammed the Vurutoga at the chest, the folded sickles on the weapon clasped in, grasping the unit tight. Haruto grunted as 01 pulled the whole Annihilator and start spinning it around violently, knocking away the other two ideal while sending the other two away, and then he throw it towards one of the off balanced Ideal. The two ideal collided and suffered some severe damage, causing them to be momentarily disoriented and dazed. Haruto used this chance and charged to the other Ideal, barraging it with burst fire, severing one of its three cables. 01 closed the distance, and sensing its attempt to go close combat, the Ideal respond in kind and swing its sword at the incoming 01. Haruto dodged at the last second and the blade barely grazed 01's headcrest right above it. In that position, the Unmanned ideal launched its head mounted scissor blade. He can't dodge this one.

Instead, Haruto charged the Red Hard Afterglow into the Z-Edge katana, increasing its cutting power as well as turning the blade edges red. The Z-Edge easily cut through the hot blade into two right down the middle. Roaring, Haruto pushed 01 forward and violently sliced the Ideal in two right on its chest. 01 quickly moved away as it explodes in a distinct green light. The other 2 unscathed Ideal pick up the pace and approached him, launching missiles and energy cannons. Haruto answered by sending a wave of red hard afterglow that blew off most of the missiles before he moved forward, dodging the energy blast along the way.

**Yogorete shimau **

04 danced allover the three Ideals, moving faster than their sensor can comprehend. Catching an Annihilator off guard, Carmilla sent two spindle knuckles at its rear pod, tearing right through it. The explosion propelled the Annihilator out of control, but not before it unleashed its payload of missiles and boomerangs. Saki cursed as she truly hates that particular equipment with passion.

"_Use the Vulkans to shoot them at a distance! They're pretty frail!"_ A-Drei instructed.

"Oh." Carmilla unleashed several burst of Hard Light bullets, shredding several boomerangs as she dodge the rest, keeping her distance while maintaining her barrage.

**mae ni yuku to kimeta**

03 and 05 managed to cover 06 till it reached the second Walkit, where 06 began repeating the process. Several Waffes attempted to close in on them, but they were essentially helpless against the two Valvraves protecting 06.

Potemkin however, is having a problem of her own, with the 2 Ideals are barraging them with everything they've got. Fortunately for the ship… the crew is also returning the favor. The CIWS tossed out literally thousands of spent casing as the crew shot down another set of missiles. Loading team injected another fresh batch of heat cartridge as soon as the cannon ejected another glowing hot and spent heat clip.

"DAMN! And to think I signed up on this Dyson Sphere as a gardener so I don't have to smell GUNPOWDER ANYMORE!" The Former Jior soldier roared in a mixture of frustration and relief as he shot down another missile.

"LESS TALK MORE SHOOTING!" A Salesman who happens to be a former gun crew of a Jior Artillery squad yelled as he fired the Walkit main cannon for the nth time, cursing as he missed the Ideal by a hairbreadth.

The entire crews of the Walkit, originally its captive, were former Jior civilians, and before that, they were EX military JIOR soldiers. And right now they're getting a quick crash course of being reminded of being the soldiers they once were. But even with their skills are being rapidly rejuvenated by this fierce combat, the fact is, they're outgunned. The opponent simply got better guns than they are. Not bigger, but better.

Fortunately, the tide began to turn when another batch of Mag-Waffes turned against the other units. 03, 05, and 06 fly away from the second hijacked Walkit of the day, who also start opening fire at the Mag Carrier.

**Yagate koborete **

Of course, the Magius fleet are not entirely unmanned. The Captain of the Mag Carrier groaned in frustration as he saw another Walkit were being taken over by the three Valvrave Team. As it stands, they might be defeated… by their own forces no less. "Can't those idiots do anything to stop the hack? Those damn Half Breeds!"

"If those Valvraves… are being made by the queen herself… I don't think we have anything that can stop it." The Captain looked at his fretting aide with bloodshot glare.

And then he smirked. "Oh no. We do have something… Prepare the Rune cannon."

The Aide looked in horror at the captain.

**chirabaru mizu ni **

01's hard-Afterglow enhanced Z-Edge pierced an Ideal's Scissor sword from the side, while the Valvrave pulled the Shield from the Vurutoga. Charging the shield with Hard Afterglow, the Valvrave let out a set of red hard light spikes, which he quickly jammed at the Ideal's chest, piercing right through its main reactor, before snapping the spikes and let it stuck there.

As it happened, an Ideal tried to attack him from behind and open fired with its Rune Gatling cannons. 01 noticed this, and taking a moment to reassemble the Vurutoga, the Valvrave quickly jumped away from the killbox, leaving the critically damaged Ideal to be riddled with friendly fire before exploding full force. The Ideal sent in its cabled scissor blade. 01 dodged the attack and sliced the cable off, and without stopping he grabbed the severed scissor blade and charged forward at full speed, carrying the massive blade. The Ideal didn't have time to dodge, and the scissor blade pierced right through its chest.

Three down, two more to go on his end. But then, Haruto noticed an unsettling notion coming from the Mag-Carrier at the back. His sensor detected a massive spike of thermal energy building up from one of the carriers. 'They're going to fire…? At what?'

**hanayaka ni**

03, 05, and 06 easily pierced through another blanket of Waffes and firepower, and 06 began her work on the next Walkit that will soon join their ranks of hijacked arsenal. Akira quickly typed at the console, overriding systems, decrypting firewalls, the whole nine yards of hacking. A-Drei watched the radar to get a good grasp on the current situation… that's when he noticed one of the carrier are aiming its main cannon. First glance, it looked like it was aiming at 04, who's battling three Ideals and winning.

Saki sent her hard afterglow charged spindle knuckle at an Ideal who dodged it easily while sending a wave of missiles and followed swiftly by an array of laser nets. Using her multi leg propulsion, Saki sent a huge wave of Hard Afterglow at the Ideal. It managed to destroy the missiles, but the laser net pierced right through the fragile hard light and ripped it to shreds. Fortunately Carmilla managed to get away from the laser net. The Ideal gave chase, until suddenly, the two Spindle-Knuckles Carmilla had thrown earlier flew back and ripped the Ideal from behind, all the way up till it burst through the Annihilator's chest at the front, and returned back to Carmilla's welcoming hands. Saki chortled. "Welcome back girls!"

**Kokoro wo utsushi **

It was then when L-Elf and Haruto thankfully noticed what's really happening. "SAKI! GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Haruto screeched.

"_A-DREI! MOVE!" _L-Elf also yelled.

A-Drei had already realized what's happening. Before Akira can say anything, A-Drei took the control and moved 06 off the Walkit, followed swiftly by 03 and 05, who caught on.

**daseru nara**

The Carrier fired its heavy rune cannon straight at Carmilla, and behind her, the Mag Walkit that was in the process of being hacked by 06.

With her speed, Carmilla easily dodged the massive attack, though her other two Mag-Ideal Annihilator opponents were not so lucky.

03, 05, and 06 were not as fast as Carmilla, and though they fly as fast as they could from the danger area, they won't make it. Akira thought quickly, and she reins every single Mag-Waffe that she had hacked, converging them right in the way of the blast, in front of the Mag-Walkit. There's enough Mag-Waffes to create five layers of 20 Mag-Waffe Wall of reinforced Clear Fossil barrier, a veritable fortress. But the Rune Beam Cannon blast was designed to penetrate and vaporize fortress walls.

**Todaeru uta to**

The first two walls were vaporized instantly, and the third managed to hold the blast for barely a second before they were blasted away. Upon reaching the fourth, the blast had diminished well enough, this wall lasted a full 2 seconds before the energy stream pierce through and hit the final fifth wall. At that point, the blast had also been weakened significantly that it seems this last layer of defense will hold.

Unfortunately, it was not quite enough. The wall managed to hold back most of the blast, but a splinter of the blast bent the wall and pierced right through in a pair of smaller of stray energy beams. One beam went towards the Mag-Walkit's bridge, and the other was accidentally sent towards an unwary Walkit next to the targeted Walkit.

It was just a sliver of the blast, but it's still potent. The sliver that headed towards the first Walkit was quickly welcomed by 05, who intercepted the blast using its shields. The stray beam was dispersed harmlessly, away from the bridge. The other Walkit was not so lucky though. The small stray stream of Rune blast punctured the said Walkit all the way to its very core reactor, critically damaging the ship, and it went down in a massive explosion soon after.

**hikikae ni**

All Valvrave pilots looked at this event with horror.

And not just the Valvrave pilots. The Magius crewing the ships also looked at this terrible spectacle, and how it was 05 and 06, the Valvraves, who tried to protect them… regrettably unsuccessfully, but the fact remains. "The half breeds… they're protecting us?"

Haruto, more than anyone, was enraged. There's the matter that the blast was aimed at his lover, but that's hardly the issue. What really infuriates him is how could these people callously fired at their own ship just to take out his friends. "Unforgivable… They just shot at their own friends… And they call human mad!?"

**Hageshii iro wo sosoide**

"_Tokishima Haruto!" _Came L-Elf. _"We need to regroup. How's your thermal gauge?"_

Haruto checked… "90-93. Just a bit more and I can enter 666 mode."

"_All Valvraves, converge on 01, protect him at all cost!"_

**Kazaritateta maboroshi wo**

"L-Elf! Need some cooling here!" Carmilla thermal gauge was also in the nineties, but unlike 01, there's no 666 mode for her.

"We're venting cooling water now. Hang in there, Rukino Saki!" Takahi arranged for another block of ice to be sent out. It should be easy, with Carmilla is in close proximity to receive support from the Module.

The same cannot be said for 05. Inuzuka laughed nervously at the state of her Valvrave. Her heat gauge is at a dangerous 152 over a 100. Her Clear Fossil shields are melting, and all of her exhaust vents are glowing red hot. The problem is that she, and the hacking team are too far from the module to receive any support.

**Kimi ga shinjiru nara**

A-Drei also checked the condition of the 06. The unit is relatively unscathed, but the heat gauge is in the 89-92 range. Not enough for further combat. "L-L-Let go!" He heard Akira squeaked.

"Hm?" A-Drei looked down and saw that in his zeal to move 06 out of harm's way, his hand is tightly grasping Akira's who's holding the control. "Ah, sorry." A-Drei knew just how strong his hand grip. And his concern was that he might accidentally break Akira' frail fingers. "Are you alright?"

Akira's face however, grew uncharacteristically bright red, rivaling her red hair. "O-o-okay!"

**Shinjitsu datte koeru darou**

In 03-Reverse, the thermal gauge is in 75-79 range. But, given Raizo's aggressive combat style, that will not be enough for the long run. Yusuke was greatly concerned over this. "Yamada! We… We need to cool down! We still got three more carriers, 05 is damaged, and 06 are heating up! We need to find a way to cool down!"

"CALL ME THUNDER!" Raizo roared, and then he quickly saw the situation is exactly as Yusuke described it. They're pretty banged up. "But how are we supposed to cool down…"

Akira swallowed a gulp. That was the first time a guy hold her hand like that. Regardless, she shook her head. Now is not the time. All Valvraves are overheating. They need to cool down. Akira frowned. 'The Valvraves are powerful but why do they overheat so fast? Was it their tech… or… wait. Tech? Valvrave tech?' Akira looked at the Walkit. She barely finished hacking the ship's system, she needs to continue on it.

06 banged the ship several times with the Hummingbird until neon green circuitry appeared. Now she had control of the ship, she went straight to its schematic. A-Drei also looked at the schematic and see what Akira was looking for. She's looking at the ship's cooling system. He understood.

**Utsuru toki wo tomete**

A-Drei quickly contacted Raizo and Yusuke. "Yamada Raizo, Yusuke Otamaya! Grab 06 and 05, take us to the Walkit's hangar!"

"CALL ME THUNDER! AND WHO ARE YOU CALLING THE SHOT!?" Raizo roared. Yusuke however was curious. "Why do you want us to go into their hangar?"

"You need to cool down don't you?" A-Drei stated. "Renbokuji Akira figured out that if this ship has been boosted with Valvrave tech, it should have some way to deal with the overheating problem. She discovered there's a cooling system integrated allover the ship's structure. One of them in the hangar is exposed. We can use that."

"Won't we meet resistance?"

"WE'RE INSIDE VALVRAVES! I'D LIKE TO SEE THEM TRY AND STOP US!" Raizo growled.

**Kuchiru sube mo shiranai de  
**

And so, 03 grabbed 06 and the overheating 05 and brought them into the hangar of the jacked Walkit. The crew gasped when they saw three gigantic robots just waltzed in as if entering a no man's land. One of the Magius hangar crew gaze in horror at the shape of these robotic titans. "Th… This shape… this form…"

A-Drei looked at the outlet of the hangar… The Magius had thoroughly changed its insides. He noted the presence of blue veins that doesn't exist on standard Walkit class. "There. Over there. All units, fire your vulkans over there."

03 and 06 aimed their head Varibale vulkan and opened fire at the blue veins. The glass veins cracked and blue luminescent substance spray out, showering all three units. Within seconds, their thermal gauge went down to near zero, even the severely overheating 05. Inuzuka whistled. "Wow."

Yusuke blinked at how fast they're cooling down. "What is this? They're not water… cooling agent? What are they composed of?"

"Like I give a fuck!" Raizo grinned wide. "We're all cooled down right? That means we can now go crazy! Right!?"

**Chi wo nagasu sono te wa  
**

And with their business done, all units left the hangar, while the Magius crew of the ship can only looked on dumbly. One in particular observed the details of the units. Purple, Yellow, Blue… and then there's the red and green one out there… "That shape… that color… and the Queen built it with her own hands… doesn't she?"

The Captain of the carrier gasped upon seeing all 5 Valvraves are now online. "All ships! Charge your rune cannons! We're gonna wipe them all out in one blow!" 

L-Elf saw the moment is ripe. "All Valvraves. Concentrate on all remaining Ideals. 01, step back and charge. 06, you know what to do."

Satomi also noted. "Someone, send another new set of Clear Fossil shield for 05! Quickly!"

And with that, all five Valvraves re-entered the fray. 03 and 05 unleashed their firepower in a barrage of yellow and blue hardlights. 06 supported by bringing its remaining Mag Waffes to support fire and to substitute 05's broken shield. The three hacked Walkits were also brought to bear, unleashing all their firepower under 06's command.

**Tojikometa inochi no**

Haruto can only manage a single shot from his Volc Arms. The gauge went past 100. Haruto grunted as red markings appeared on his face. The Valvrave console scanned his eyes.

**Eldar Valvire Magius detected. Releasing limiter.**

The Valvrave's thermal gauge of 100 turned to 666, and the charging begins. Noticing the danger, all 4 remaining Ideals concentrated on 01, including those who were attacking the now heavily damaged Potemkin a moment ago.

Two Ideals launched a pair of scissor swords at the defenseless 01, but then a pair of spindle knuckles from Carmilla intercepts it and tear right through them. As if on cue, 03-Reverse entered the fray and fired a full charged Rune blast from the Armstronger cannons. One blast punctured an ideal, the other one claimed one of its wing mounted appendages.

06 stopped behind the charging 01 and lifted her staff, emanating the signals through her multitudes of Neon Green Sense Nerves. The Mag Waffes converge around 01 protecting it, and the Walkits intensified their fire, taking massive toll on the relatively less armed Carriers. 05 received her new pair of shields and joined the defense and adding firepower.

**Kodoku wo kimi ni sasageru**

The Ideals opened fire, but it was blocked by 05's shield. The enemy Mag Waffe step forth, but it was countered by the Mag Waffes controlled by 06. Amidst the chaos, 04 danced across the field and using her spindle knuckle as buzzsaw gauntlets, she ripped one of Ideals' wings off, and then tore through another's booster pod. The now defenseless Ideal had no way of stopping 03-Reverse who close the distance and sent a hard-afterglow enhanced drill fist that pierced right into its chest. The last Ideal was completely battered by the combined firepower of 03, 05, and 06.

**motometeru**

The terrified crews of the jacked Walkits saw this spectacle… and suddenly, every Magius had their centuries old memories jogged. An inherent racial memory, carved to their very soul… the memory of an old tapestry.

"The Grim Witch…" 06 lifted her staff and maintain control of the hacked arsenal.

"The Scarab Master…" 05 kept firing furiously at the remaining hostile Waffes, keeping them from exploding took close.

"The Lightning Bishop…" 03 fired a stream of golden hard light blast that swept several Waffes to oblivion.

"The Spider Queen…" 04 maintain her vigilant around the main Valvrave.

"And… and…"

01 had almost finished charging, emanating the gold and red energy from its entire being.

By that time, all three Carriers' main Rune cannons had almost completed its charging as well.

And suddenly…

The three hijacked Walkit suddenly dropped down their stealth field and appeared right on the Carrier's rear, coming in from three direction, one from the left, one from the right, and the other is descending from up top. While the carriers were distracted by the 5 Valvrave units, Akira sent them in a Kamikaze course at the Carrier's Hardlight boosters. Normally a heavy space cruiser won't be able to gather the speed for ramming maneuvers, but these are Walkits that had been enhanced by Valvrave techs, they're many times faster than normal cruisers.

"EVASIVE MANEUVER!"

"TOO LATE!"

Two of the carriers were hit hard on their rear, but one managed to get away, albeit barely. The shock of the collision caused all the collected Runes concentrated on the cannon barrel to destabilize and imploded, its feedback coruscates throughout the whole ship in a catastrophic backlash, overloading the systems and causing massive damage throughout its structure and runes bursting out of the exploded sections of the ship. The two carriers are out for count.

As for the one who managed to escape…

The Magius captain of the said Mag-Carrier looked up and saw the five Valvraves right in front of the ship. Five Valvraves. Five colors. Five familiar colors to all Magius. "…the Court… of the Seven Rainbows!?"

01 grabbed his twin Z Edges and stabbed them to his exposed Rave Engine. A pair of massive wings made of gold and red runes burst out of its wings. When he pulled the blades out, the said sword had been engulfed with gold and red rune energy. Reassembling the energized Z-Edges into the Vurutoga, and the Twin Harakiri Blade cannon was charged.

Haruto had the ship at his crosshairs… and yet he waited.

A-Drei twitched. "Tokishima Haruto! What are you waiting for? Fire!"

The Captain of Carrier was also wondering the same thing. "What is he doing?"

Suddenly, their com blared. They're being hailed by 01. The communication line was opened.

"To the Magius Crew aboard that ship." It was Haruto. "As you can see, I'm fully charged, and this thing has enough power packed in it to vaporize you all without a trace."

A-Drei blinked in disbelief. "What foolishness is this? Is he serious!?"

"Surrender the ship now, or we'll open fire."

Everyone, the ship's crew, the other Valvrave pilots, the students, and every people around the world watching the proceeding of this battle was completely shocked. Even after all that and the boy… the Novus Magius still offer something like that? Only two people knew this will happen: a grinning, knowing Shashinami Shoko, and the calm and calculating L-Elf.

The Carrier's captain looked at the impending doom, but in the end, his pride took over. "SHUT UP! HOW DARE YOU, A LOWLY HALF-BLOOD BASTARD ABOMINATION DARE TO THREATEN US!?"

"**Listen to him you fool." **Suddenly, Pino's face appeared on the screen. **"It's not a threat, I kid you not, it's mercy. Surrender now. And you may walk out of this alive."**

"I will not bow down to a fallen Queen who has been reduced to a mere lapdog to humans! WE'RE THE ONES WHO'S GONNA BLOW YOU ALL AWAY!" The captain roared. "RUNE CANNON! FIRE!"

Haruto frowned. "Pity." And the Valvrave pushed the trigger.

**Mijikai yume wo kasanete**

The Carrier's cannon fired a massive stream of green rune energy Beam that headed straight at 01.

**Eien ni shite yuku hana no**

A pair of gold and red Rune energy spun out of the Vurutoga barrel and twisted together in a helix, creating a gigantic whirlwind column of energy that rivaled the Carrier's rune cannon.

**Itsuwari ga setsunaku**

Both beams collided one another, its impact caused a massive blinding explosion whose shockwave rattled and even bend the space around the point of collision. The larger debris caught up in the shockwave were pushed back and pulverized while the smaller ones were instantly vaporized. The Valvraves had to take cover behind 05's shield, who's hard-pressed to defend. Even the massive Module that is some distance away from the point of impact shook violently, causing many of its occupants to lose balance.

**Kobamu sekai wo kizutsukeru  
**

At first, it looked like a stalemate. But as Valvrave 01's Rune Wings began to disperse and shrank, and to the horror of everyone, the green energy stream began to rapidly pushed back the gold and red rune from 01.

**Negau nara misaseru**

The whole world watched as the 01 began to be pushed back, and his gold glowing wings was almost spent…

**Dakara tooku kienai de**

But then, Haruto roared as gold and red runes emanate from his being as well. Pino also add her own power into the system.

**Kimi ga miru ashita no**

With one final blast, 01 amplified his shot, the spiraling gold and red runes were enlarged into a swirling storm of gold energy that engulfed, even swallowed, the rune cannon blast from the Carrier. The Twin Harakiri cannon blast rapidly pushed the rune blast back to where it came from.

**Atarashii ibuki wo  
**

Finally, after a brief struggle, the bright light where the two beams are connected were shoved back into the cannon barrel of the Carrier, completely vaporizing the cannon's insides, causing monstrous damage on the ship's system due to power surge overload, followed suit by a series of violent explosions all across the body of the ship.

**Nobashita ude ni mukaeru **

Finally, the gold and red energy pierced through the stalemate and pierced through the ship, right through the barrel, but at the same time, 01's Rune Wings dispersed completely and the Valvrave tucked down, having expended all its power, and the spiraling Rune blast died down before causing further damage to the already catastrophically damaged carrier.

**Hanasanai…**

The Carrier's cannon barrel had been melted inside out, and soon, with one last spark of electricity, it exploded full force, causing monstrous inside out damage to the carrier. The Carrier's hull soon followed and different sections of the ship also burst into green colored explosions. The ship has been completely damaged beyond repair… and yet it still floats and barely online.

Haruto gasped and panted upon seeing the still intact ship, shocked… and relieved. "Why… it's still… intact?"

"**Uhh… well… that thing is made of tougher stuff… and your gun, the Volc Arm, isn't." **Pino pointed out.

01 lifted the Vurutoga and noticed that the Volc Arm portion of his Vurutoga had melted, along with some of the Z-Edges and the Blade Baiken forward section. They were unable to withstand the power exerted by the Twin Hara-kiri Blade. But that's not the only reason. "The rune blast from that carrier had also reduced the power from my shot… significantly." Haruto added the last part… with a pleasant suspicion.

And then, Haruto hailed everyone on the open channel, his transmission was broadcasted throughout the world. "To Magius aboard the other ships… what's it gonna be? We took over your ship… we could've easily smashed you to one another, but we didn't. Surrender, shut down all your weapons system, and your life will be spared. Do it not… and we'll just destroy you all."

The Five Valvraves stood ready to support that warning.

The Magius fleet understands Haruto is not making idle threats. Finally, one of the Captains of the Carrier answered on behalf of the other ships. "Alright. You win. We'll surrender. We're shutting down all our weapon system. In return please do not harm my men and my crew."

Haruto smiled. "That's the way it should be." He gave a triumphant smile to everyone on the screen: Saki, Shoko, L-Elf, Satomi, Yusuke and Raizo, Inuzuka, A-Drei and Akira… and everyone in the world who witnessed the battle. "Everyone! Did you see that!?" 

Haruto didn't just address the School, he addressed the whole world. "The Council of 101 had just sent that fleet to keep our heads on the ground while they take whatever they want."

In Dorssia…

The Karstein boys looked at the screen in disbelief – except Q-Vier who is… being Q-Vier. Krimhield's eyes widened as well. Somewhere in a vast complex of Dorssian imperial palace, a man watched the TV screen with great interest. Cain and Lieselotte watched the broadcast.

"_And now I'm sending a message to them. This is our country. And in here, you CANNOT take whatever you want. In here, we won't just be quiet and let you silence us. In here, we will not stand by and stand down saying 'yes sir', 'no sir' as you see fit! In here, we are FREE of YOU!"_

In Arus…

An army of protesters watched with spirited eyes at Haruto giving out his speech on the screen.

"_In here there's no puppet that you can control. No strings that you can pull. In here there's only freedom! Freedom to choose to do what we want! Freedom to choose our own destiny! And we will fight you! We will defy you! We will reject this world, this false peace that you have created."_

In the Council's secret domain…

The Council members gritted their teeth as they saw Haruto's speech being broadcasted.

"_I'm a Novus Magius. As do Rukino Saki, Inuzuka Aina, Yamada Raizo, Otamaya Yusuke, and Akira Renbokuji. We are part human, part Magius. We were created to reject the rule of the Council. Why? Because we were made to become a bridge between our two species. Humans and Magius… whose fate had become one. We were made… so that our two people can coexist as equals. But that's not what the Council is offering. What they're offering is oppression. To stand above all others. Not just of humans… but Magius as well. You've seen to what they did to those who won't do as they say!?" _

Inside the Module 77…

The reporters and the students looked intently at the screen.

"_That's what they do. That's what they've done. And that's what they've tried to do to us. But they can't. They can't control us. They can't put us on collars, because we didn't let them. Because we choose to be free. And I say the same to you. To all of you. Do not let them control you. Do not let them think that you don't have a choice. You have a choice. You always have a choice. To remain as you are, standing stock still and subservient, like fattened cattle moving towards a slaughterhouse…" _

In Valvrave 01…

"…or break free and choose, out of your own free will, to fight back and to be FREE!" Haruto roared. "We the Novus Magius had chosen to FIGHT back! We have chosen to stand up tall and say 'NO, we will not do as you say'! We will defy them! And we will win! We know this… because we've shown you that we CAN WIN! We CAN beat them! So choose! Humanity! Magius! Do you wish to be cattle… or do you wish to be FREE!?"

The students of the Sakimori High roared as one. "FREEDOM!" "OFF WITH THE COUNCIL!" "WE WILL FIGHT!" "WE'RE NO CATTLE!" "WE ARE FREE!" 

In Arus…

The citizens of Arus screamed to the sky in support of Haruto, punching their fists to the sky in support, chanting his name and the word freedom like a mantra.

In Dorssia…

A cluster of grim but determined Dorssian soldiers joined with the Royalist resistance and marched out in open defiance, brandishing a standard with the word: 'Haruto, We chose to be Free' over their heads.

In Sakimori High…

In the Auditorium, in the command center, in every part of school and the module, the students roared freedom over and over.

Burnett and all the reporters realized they just broadcasted a history in the making.

L-Elf relaxed as they just passed the first test successfully with flying colors. And then, he heard beeping sound. A-Drei contacted him, with help from Akira. L-Elf opened it up.

A-Drei looked at L-Elf and started: _"You've gone soft, L-Elf."_

"Me?" L-Elf snorted. "Soft? I think you got the wrong person."

"_You of all people should've known that Tokishima Haruto's shot will not be sufficient to go head to head with that Rune Cannon. Enough to overpower… but not enough to destroy."_ A-Drei further added. _"You can make 10 scenarios that will result in the enemy being wiped out, but you arrange this merciful scenario knowing that Tokishima Haruto's kindness will make him offer that term of surrender. That gave the enemy time and chance to open fire at him first." _

L-Elf's eyes rolled. "You think too much. Besides, Tokishima Haruto's sweet naivety has its uses. By letting him show mercy and compassion, it made him popular, garnering the world's support to him, thus strengthening our position. What's more, we've gained access to additional intact Valvrave techs. I pick this particular scenario because at the present, we needed an edge, and now we have that edge. One that we will put to good use now that we've officially entered open war with the Council."

A-Drei was not convinced. _"Is that really all?"_

L-Elf flatly replied. "That is all."

A-Drei remained silent, assessing his friends' seemingly newfound taste in minimum casualty plan. _"Fine. Just make sure Tokishima Haruto's softness didn't rub off on you."_ And A-drei cut the com.

"Like I'll let that happen." L-Elf groaned and put his phone out. He turned around and saw Shoko… smirking mischievously at him. "What?" Did she hear that conversation just now?

Shoko smiled gleefully. "Nothing… nothing…"

Yes. Lord Help him. She did.

**0000000000000000**

The Lies of the World had been unveiled…

The Revolution has begun…

**0000000000000000**

**0000000000000000**

**0000000000000000**

**To Fangking2: Loved your ideas and the electric based tech you mentioned. I'm definitely gonna use most of them… if not all. But unit 07 is not for Raizo. And that idea of using India Hinduism as a theme is a good idea. I'm gonna go with that theme. Thanks a bunch.**

**That's one idea, but I'm still open for suggestion on unit 07. Thanks for reading, please Review.**


	5. Day to Day

**Information was referenced from Wikipedia. Thank you very much. Long live Free Information.**

**Masamune** (正宗), also known as **Gorō Nyūdō Masamune** (五郎入道正宗, Priest Gorō Masamune, 1264–1343 AD), is widely recognized as Japan's greatest swordsmith, whose skills had produced various kinds of katana. Not all of them are known due to the fact he rarely gave his signature on his creations, but some of the swords that was known for a fact to be his creation (thus bearing his name) such as the Honjo Masamune (today a Japanese National Treasure and the world's greatest katana) are all, without fail, the finest blades in the world. He also took in many students; all of them would become a great swordsmiths of their age.

**Muramasa Sengo **(千子 村正 _Sengo Muramasa_)is also an actual swordsmith who lived 300 years after the time of Masamune. It was said that while he himself was an outstanding swordsmith, he has an ill temper, with imbalanced mind verging on madness. Supposedly it transferred to his swords. Blades made by Muramasa school have been known to be exceptionally sharp and legend tell, it's inherently bloodthirsty. Tokugawa Ieyasu forbade his generals from using Muramasa blade because many of his friends had been felled by Muramasa blades, and he himself was injured badly by it, and thus how it fell out of favor, and its reputation became further tarnished as evil blades.

The most famous legend of Masamune and Muramasa was the contest between a Masamune Blade and the Muramasa blade in cutting a leaf flowing down the river. Masamune's blade would cut the leaf, but then it healed momentarily as if it had never been cut – or in other interpretation, the leaf would avoid the blade completely; whereas Muramasa's blade will cut everything viciously: the water, the leaf, the passing by fish, even the air itself. Some even said Muramasa's blade was so vicious that objects would be cut before it even made contact with the actual cutting edge.

Ever since then, Masamune was attributed as the creator of holy swords, whereas Muramasa was attributed as the maker of evil swords.

**00000000000000**

Not long after the battle was over, the Valvraves returned to the Module…

By all means, they would be better of returning to Potemkin… But the Mag Ideals had battered the rock solid ship to something resemble a Swiss cheese, figuratively speaking. The Valvraves would be better repaired in the Module.

06 returned first to its hangar, where a deathly pale and worried sick Satomi came towards it first thing. When the first person to come out of its cockpit was the one eyed Dorssian that is A-Drei, Satomi roared in fury and throw a punch at his face. He felt like he just punched a brick wall. A-Drei didn't flinch either.

Satomi glared angrily at him. "You… You brought her in there… didn't you!?" 

"Yes." A-Drei answered nonchalantly.

"AAAAAAARGHHH!" Satomi went berserk and attacked the aloof Dorssian. He punched and kicked multiple times, accomplishing nothing but pushing the target away in this zero G environment. When the next punch doesn't seem to cause so much as a bruise, Satomi forgo his dignity and resolve to a more primitive method, he tried to bite him. Rather than fearing damage, A-Drei held Satomi at chokepoint to stop him wasting what dignity he had.

"Stop this. This is unsightly."

"AKIRA'S MY SISTER! HOW COULD YOU! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS WITHOUT TALKING TO ME FIRST!?" Satomi squirmed and roared, his hands flailing helplessly trying to reach A-Drei and pulling away this choke from his neck. Akira who saw this twitched in anger.

"Given the situation, it's impractical to waste time asking your permission first." 

"SHUT UP! I'M HER BROTHER! YOU HAVE NO-"

06 suddenly went online and with an angry Akira at the helm, the mech grabbed Satomi by the back of his collar and tossed him lightly to the ceiling. Satomi hit the ceiling with a light bang. He gasped as he looked at the 06 glare… that seems to mimic her sister's angry glare. His phone beeps, she just texted him:

**Piss off.**

"A… Akira…" Satomi's anger died down, replaced by a dejected crestfallen look.

A-Drei frowned and then he looked at 06 going offline, and Akira didn't come out. She wants to stay there. Instead, A-Drei also gets a text from her.

**You okay?**

A-Drei twitched in confusion. Why should she be more worried about him than her brother? He noted the way Akira tossed Satomi like that… What is this, sisterly hate? A-Drei answered with the lightest of nod.

Akira smiled lightly and then she buried her head down her knees.

03 and 05 also landed, followed swiftly by 01 and 04.

03 opened the hatch and Raizo floated out, smiling like mad, welcomed by all of his members… and surprisingly, L-Elf.

"Yamada Raizo." L-Elf started.

"What do you think, Dorssian!? How do you like me now!?"

"Unauthorized use of Valvrave is a serious crime. 3 days in a brig." And L-Elf float away, discussion closed.

Raizo's wide grin faltered. "C… CAN'T YOU AT LEAST GIVE ME SOME COMPLIMENTS OR SOMETHING!?"

Trouble began to arise when the pilot of 05 didn't come out of her cockpit.

"Inuzuka-senpai? Inuzuka-senpai?" One of the hangar team knocked the cockpit shell several times.

Worse, Inuzuka didn't respond either.

"Haruto? Haruto!?"

And it's not just Inuzuka. Haruto hasn't come out of 01 either. A worried sick Saki floats around the cockpit hatch. She banged the hatch several times, no response.

"That does it. Manually override the system, open the hatch from the outside!" A senior hangar crew stated.

"You guys… can do that?" Yusuke blinked.

"Yeah! Of course we can." The Jior Hangar Man smirked. "We built the damn thing, didn't we?"

And with their help, the cockpit of 01 and 05 were opened. What they found… was a very weak Inuzuka… and a very hungry and berserk Haruto… hungry as in the first thing he did was to try to bit the first person he lay eyes on. Fortunately that person is Saki… and she doesn't mind. Not even when he tore her pilot suit and bit her in the neck right then and there.

Saki eyes rolled backwards… and Haruto fainted.

"Oh no, not this again!?" Haruto looked at Saki's fingers. The thing about feeding… if he wasn't fully aware of what he's doing, and he didn't go all the way (to the death) he'll jack the victim as he feed on the poor soul. And right now he's inside Saki's body. Haruto-Saki grabbed his body and bit his arm for some time and then he's back and Saki is herself again… Haruto looked at Pino questioningly.

"**I told you… you have to feed again… that's why mode 666 has a limiter."**

"Someone! Something happened to Inuzuka-senpai!" Yusuke's panicked yell distracted everyone.

Everyone quickly converge on 05's cockpit. Haruto and Saki looked into the cockpit. Inuzuka lay lifeless on the cockpit… this is not her being tired… this is more like she's… dying…

"Wh… What's going on?"

Pino chose that time to appear on 05's console. **"She's short on runes." **

As if to enforce this, 05 suddenly changed its color from black to white.

"Runes. Right." Haruto nodded and climbed in. "Inuzuka-senpai. Inuzuka-senpai! Wake up!" Haruto gently caress Inuzuka Aina's face.

"I don't understand… why Inuzuka? Why Haruto?" Saki shrugged. "Why not me? Why not Yusuke?"

"**It's because they're responsible on feeding not just themselves but also the beings planted in their Rave Core engines." **Pino stated. **"Me in Haruto's case… and… in Sakurai Aina's case… the dying Inuzuka Kyuuma's body which is being kept alive in the life support inside the Rave Core Engine. Haruto and Aina need to feed themselves, the Valvrave, AND the core. Their need to feed will be greater than the others." **

"Inuzuka-senpai! Aina-chan, what…" Aina appeared on the console, being gently cradled by Pino… as it is, she looked as bad as the pilot.

Haruto understand. "Inuzuka-senpai. You need to feed. Come on, senpai. Bit me." Haruto opened his suit and showed his neck. "Bit me. Please."

Inuzuka weakly comprehend and she approached the Haruto's neck, opened her mouth and bit… but Haruto felt… nothing. He didn't feel his consciousness fading. "What?"

"**Haruto… it won't work." **Pino answered. **"Sakurai Aina has to be inside her own body in order to use her full power as a Magius." **

"But Aina-chan had already been injected by that substance, she's a magius."

"**Have you forgotten what we are?" **Pino stated. **"Magius is not just the body, it's also the essence, the mind, the thing you humans call soul. A body cannot work properly without the mind. Inuzuka Kyuuma is still a human mind and soul, inside a Magius body…"**

"Okay. I get the point. So… how do we put Aina's mind back into her body?"

"**Put her back in the pilot seat."**

Haruto did so. And then the injector pricked Aina's neck… and her eyes blared open, and the light fades…

Aina disappeared from Pino's arm, and then a new avatar was formed… this time, it's Inuzuka Kyuuma. Light returned back to Sakurai Aina's eyes. Aina choked and panted. But she's still weakened. She's still in need of runes.

"Okay… Aina… bit me…"

"**No. Haruto, stop! It won't work." **Pino shook her head. **"You yourself are in Rune Shortage. You donate some to her, you'll end up making an even bigger wound on yourself."**

"So what? Do… Do I have to let her feed on other people!?"

Pino frowned in deep thought.

**00000000000000**

Sometime later, Saki, L-Elf, A-Drei, Shoko and some team of armed Jior soldiers, with Burnett's crew in tow, boarded one of the Mag Arus Carrier.

It's something Pino said that got everyone concerned. To power their massive Rune Cannon will require an enormous amount of Runes… an amount that no single human can provide. And her suspicion was proven right.

Down in the Carrier's engine room, in a place where normally there should be a gigantic nuclear fission core the size of a house that powered standard Arus Carrier, the heart of Mag Arus carrier is a room filled with sprawling gigantic towers, each with rows upon rows of neon green glowing capsules sprouting up on its surface, spiraling up. But of the most horrifying bit of these capsules, is that they are filled with brains, eyeballs and spinal cortex, encased in cybernetic casing. Tubes went straight into their head… where said tubes were draining green rune energy out of their mind.

Burnett's camerawoman, Irene, had to fight an urge to vomit.

Burnett himself balled his fist tight. "W… What is this!?"

"**A Brain Farm." **Pino frowned in disgust. **"Remember what I said about Runes being found most richly in humans? To be more specific, runes are found in their memories. Their thoughts. And the organ responsible for 'producing' those memories are not their arms or legs or any other organs… it's their brains."**

"You… carve people's brains out!?" Saki clasped her mouth.

"**Just one brain." **The Captive Crew answered. **"We carve one brain, and then we cloned it multiple times. One tower for one person's brain clones. One brain cloned a 100 times. The rune generated was enough to power an entire city for a year."**

And there are 10 towers in that room. 10 original brains, a thousand cloned brains in all.

Shoko paled as she looked at all this twitching brains. "Are they… are these brains… cloned… brains… are they still alive in there?"

"**They must be."** One of the Carrier's captive crew answered. **"Runes can only be harvested from living humans who can generate memories and thoughts. And they may be cloned brains, but they're alive. We kept them alive with nutrients and kept them in tip-top condition… albeit stuck in an eternal coma. We put them in a chemically induced dreaming sleep. And in that dream, they continue to live, experiencing life, feeling artificially induced sensation, generating memories." (AN: a less realistic version of the Matrix, as reference)** Saki looked at all this in horror. The captive crew continued. **"This is the most efficient method we developed for both us and you humans."**

"EFFICIENT?" Saki roared. "EFFICIENT!? You carve people's brains out and suck memories out of them!" 

"**Do you have any idea how many humans we have to kill before we develop this method?"** The said Captive Crew retorted. **"Before this, a single Magius needs to feed on 1 or 2 people a month! Imagine a million Magius! We feed on humans, drain them dry and then they're dead, and that's it! A dead mind is of no use to us anymore! It's counterproductive and attracted far too much attention! But with this method, not only we reduced the number of humans we have to kill significantly, a single living adult human brain being kept alive, cloned many times over, it kept producing memories subconsciously… harvested in this way, we can generate enough Runes to feed 10 Magius for a full month before the brain had to be replaced!"**

"ALIVE!?" Saki had enough and grabbed the captive crew by the collar before lifting him off the floor. "What if I carve your brains out and put it in test tubes like these ones!? Huh!? Will you still be alive then!?" She slammed him to the ground.

"**There's precedence to this."** Pino bitterly smiled. **"When we first discovered about human's mortality, some of us tried to circumvent that by possessing dead human bodies."** Burnett turned to the Queen. **"Total failure. Dead bodies can't generate Runes… we were reduced to a ravaging creature with insatiable hunger for Runes, and… uhh… in our desperation, we tried to devour living human brains."** Every human in the room winced. **"Hence why the Zombie Punk culture in your planet often depicted Zombies being hungry for brains. Brain Farm is our terminology to describe concentration of human population that we kept as Rune Reserve – we didn't EAT their brains per se of course. But this is… this is a far more advanced and more compact version of it… and it take things too literally and too far." **

"So you're using cloned brains." A-Drei joined the conversation. "Then why need tithe of fresh humans? You can just clone a batch of brains and absorb their runes over and over."

"**Cloning techniques haven't actually been perfected yet. Runes generated from clones are of significantly lower quality. And the cloned brains continue to degrade at a rapid rate. Take this engine for example. The main brain may need to be replaced after 5 years, but the cloned brains need to be replaced every month. It's… quite costly."** The Magius moved to what looked like a dispenser. He pressed a button, and what looked like a… can of soda popped out, filled with neon green glowing liquid. He handed one to Saki, who looked at the can. **"Synthetic Rune, if you wish to call it that. That there is enough Rune to last for a week."**

Saki opened the can and looked at the content. It's glowing green, it even has sparkles like fresh soda pop… She sniffed it several times… it has no smell. She carefully lifted it to her lips.

"**You're a Magius too. Though you're just a half breed. So here's a word for you first-timers. Be careful. Be prepared." **

Saki looked at the Magius.

"**For humans, that's lobotomy in a can. But for us… that thing has a kick like nobody's business."**

Saki looked back at that drink… and she carefully took a sip. Just one sip… and suddenly it felt like her head was about to explode inside out. Memories came flooding in. A husband, a wife, children sharing in a dinner… then the memory of that same guy getting fired… mixed up with a memory of an inmate in a prison; add with some memory of a hooker in the street… It was something really new and overwhelming to her mind…

Her eyes rolled up and she fell to the ground. The Magius chuckled, which earned him a violent kick from L-Elf that brought him down. **"I warned her."**

Saki went rigid on the floor, foaming and drooling… the soldiers quickly get to her, giving her artificial breathing… and then she choked and gasped as she came to. "Oh God… my head… it's in pieces…" She gasped… Haruto… he suffered like this too every time he feeds? And she just took a sip… Haruto fed from 47 people… 47 minds… No wonder he went so nuts he raped her senseless.

However… she felt… rejuvenated… refreshed. The Runes recharged her up. That freshness gave her the strength to get back up quickly. "I saw memories. But it was jumbled."

"**The runes are a mixture of memories from 1,010 people's brains. Even clones have their own memories."** Pino shook her head. **"We can't give this to Haruto or Aina. Their mind can't take it. Not yet."**

"**Half breeds."** The Magius snorted.

Saki and Pino glared at the Magius. "So what do we do?"

**00000000000000**

Some few minutes later, the Magius was tossed into a dark cage… Dorssian maximum security prison. Said Magius was still wondering what are they going do to him when he heard growling from behind him. He turned around and saw Haruto, in his berserk mode.

"Oh you gotta be kidding me." The Magius start emanating green aura from his being.

Suddenly, the prison com lit up. It's L-Elf. "Here's a word for first timers: Don't resist. The more you resist… the more painful it'll be."

"Fuck you." The Magius chant a few spells and suddenly he shot a green sphere that hit Haruto right on his chest. Haruto fell on his back with a cratered chest. "Hah. Is that all you got, Half breed?" The Magius laughed.

Suddenly, a pulse of red and gold burst out of Haruto's chest, followed by a burst of red and gold aura. When he got back up, he was totally enraged, and quite, quite mad.

The Magius looked at this and realized. He's… "Oh… fuck."

"**ROAAAAARRRWRR!"** Haruto charged on all fours and bit the man in the neck, deep, and start feeding.

"**GAAAAAAAAAAARGHHH!"**

"I warned you." L-Elf shrugged.

Saki saw this and felt little repulsion as she watched how the Magius screamed for help that will not come while Haruto bite deep into his neck, draining his runes. "Is it gonna be enough? Last time he needs to feed on 47 people."

"It should be. A Magius that had lived for centuries would've amassed a huge amount of Runes. Draining out of him would be equivalent to drinking several hundred people all at once."

Saki blinked and rolled her eyes to L-Elf. "Can Haruto take it? The last time he did this…"

"He himself agreed to this, after consulting Pino." L-Elf replied. "According to Pino, a full fledged Magius would have a better mental control, a better mind compartmentalization. They've absorbed countless memories, managing the insides of their mind properly. It should be a lot easier for Haruto to drain a properly managed mind in comparison to that chaotic brew. And besides… even if he did go crazy… you seem to know how to calm him down."

A blushing Saki do know how… which involve… a lot of screaming, biting, and… and… never mind. "And Aina-chan?"

"Either Sakurai Aina feed from another Magius… or she can feed from Tokishima Haruto." L-Elf shrugged. "I think he would find the latter more agreeable."

Meanwhile, down there, Haruto had finally let go the comatose Magius. L-Elf noted that the Magius is still alive. He turned on the com. "You're not finishing him up?"

Haruto panted and gasped, holding on to his head. "This guy…" He replied amidst a labored breathing. "How many people has he 'eaten'? Memories… flooding… my head… Grrrhhh!" Haruto fell to his knees and grasped his head.

"Haruto!" Saki shrieked and before anyone can stop her, she quickly ran towards the prison. There, she found Pino floating around in front of the entrance to the max security prison cage. "Pino?"

"**Saki-chan." **Pino cheerfully welcomed her. **"I take it you're here for Haruto?"**

"I need to… help him."

Pino rubbed her chin. **"Well… I know you've done it before… but I suggest you leave him alone this time."**

"Why?"

"…**training." **Pino stated simply. **"Now that you have begun a war with Magius… you cannot afford not to feed on people. The worst part for a Magius when you fed on someone is the fact that when you fed upon another person's runes, you didn't just absorb their life and add them to your own… you drank their memories and thoughts as well. If you're not careful, you'll lose your own mind in the maelstrom of memories." **

"I… know." Saki nodded. "I know exactly what you mean… I drank that muck… and when Haruto and I made love… my mind went nuts for a while…"

"**You only took a sip and partake barely half of what Haruto endures. Mind Compartmentalization is a skill that all Magius must have." **Pino further added with a wide smile. **"For some reason, Haruto seems to have an interesting affinity in managing the insides of his head. Considering the fact that his mind had been pretty fucked up… nyahahaha!" **Pino laughed. 

"Pino." Saki death-glared the whimsical fairy queen. She send the message: that's not funny, loud and clear.

Pino's laugh ceased, replaced with a kind gentle smile. **"Well… it's okay. Haruto had gained valuable experience the first time he suffered the Rune Overload. But apart from that… I think it's his… disposition."**

"Disposition?"

"**Let's just share everything and be halfsies. His favorite mantra." **Pino smiled. **"Even among my people, sharing our head with someone else's is such a dreadful experience. Because me being me, you are you. We have no intention to share our mind with everyone else's, even when we take them in. But Haruto… he easily accepted other people's memories, calmly rearranging them… maybe that's why he mastered a skill of an Eldar Valvire Magius so easily…" **

"Easily you say… Calmly you say…" Saki frowned, reminded of how insane Haruto went on his first time. However, it's just like Haruto said. Pino clearly knows a lot more about their new biology of Magius than most people will ever know. 'Well, she's the former Queen of Magius, this much should be expected… Hm?'

"**At any rate… I suggest, since you're her bond partner, you need to train managing and compartmentalizing your mind as well. That disgusting derivative Rune can be used as a nice training method."**

'Wait a sec… Magius?'

"**You can start by drinking a sip at a time. And then manage the flood of memories, and then drink another sip."**

'But that's not what she called Haruto… she called Haruto…' "Hey, Pino."

"**Hm?"**

"You call Haruto… Valvire Magius? What's that?"

Pino stare at Saki for a few seconds and then, she made a grand gesture saying: **"To be continued!"**

"THIS AIN'T A SERIAL!" An incredulous Saki roared.

"**To be continued!" **Pino insisted. And she floated away at blurring speed, quickly distancing herself from a furious Saki, laughing shrilly as she did.

Saki thought of chasing her… but then she refrained and looked at the door. She can somehow imagine, Haruto was having a terrible time. She would know. She endured it herself.

True to what Saki had guessed, Haruto was screaming, clawing the floor and the wall, his head felt like shattering inside out. The Magius who was left inside were made scapegoat to Haruto's insanity, often being clawed, bitten, torn in a vicious manner. Of course, the Magius' regenerative power ensured he'll live… to be torn apart by Haruto again… which makes this a terrible hell for him.

And so Saki stood there… waiting, hoping.

Meanwhile, Pino had flown away from Saki. **'Uah… dangerous, dangerous… not the time yet, Haruto, Saki… not yet.'** On her way she entered the elevator. And she thought she'll just phase through all the way to her Valvrave… but then, she sensed something. She touched the elevator and felt electricity coursing right through it. And then the elevator's door closed. **"Hoe?" **

"I've run that elevator with 10 million volts of electricity." L-Elf's voice flowed out of the com. "You're an energy life form… you can't touch physical objects but… electricity is a form of energy. It can touch you right?"

Pino chuckled shrilly. **"Ahhh… L-Elf-kun. Haruto's favorite vessel. In a manner of speaking…" **

L-Elf twitched, not liking that moniker one bit. "We have some questions and a few demands, and you will not get out of that room until you answer them."

"**We?"**

"We." A-Drei answered.

**Chapter 5:**

**Day to Day**

Pino laughed childishly. **"Oh my. What a pickle!"**

"In case you haven't understand, I can easily increase the electricity to ten times that amount. That's enough to fry a man alive." L-Elf looked at Pino through the screen of his phone.

"**Kyahahahahahaha! What foolish children you two are." **Pino laughed. **"Foolish and gutsy. I like that. If you want to even tickle the High Queen of Magius with electricity… you need to ready…" **And suddenly, Pino literally popped out of L-Elf's phone's screen, short-circuiting it as Pino passed through it, and for the first time in his life, if only for an instant, L-Elf was scared out of his wits. **"…at least a million times that voltage." **

That phone was a cheap phone worth only 10 credit a piece. That elevator is a 500,000 credit piece of hardware. The amount of electricity used to electrify it would skyrocket the electricity bill to an eye gouging 1 mil. But the look of shock and horror in L-Elf's and A-Drei's faces: Priceless.

"**What do you want to know, L-Elf?"**

L-elf stared bewildered at the Magius Queen and finally dared himself to ask the question. "Back then… you mentioned the name Lieselotte. How did you know that name?"

Pino blinked innocently several times and replied. **"Right back at you. I was surprised when Haruto mentioned her name, and it riled you up. So… how did YOU know that name?"**

"You didn't answer my question."

"**We both asked the same question, L-Elf-kun." **Pino smiled. **"It's just the matter of who should answer first, no?"**

"On earth, if someone asked you a question first, you have to answer first." A-Drei stated. "Lieselotte W. Dorssia is a member of Dorssian Royal family, held hostage during Coup D'état. What is her relationship to you?"

"**Fair enough." **Pino chuckled. **"But first… get rid of the electricity will you? We don't want some poor soul who walked into the elevator to be fried to crisp, now do we?"**

L-Elf grunted and did so with a few pressed buttons on his phone. Then he looked at Pino once again, demanding answer.

The answer was quickly given. **"Lieselotte was one of the members of my inner circle. We were nameless in our world, but we are recognized as some of the most powerful Magius in our universe, and thus led our race to glory and its eventual ruin. On Earth, we were given the epithet of the Covenant of Seven Rainbows: The Grim Pawn Witch, the Scarab Rook Master, The Lightning high Bishop, the Spider Queen, the Wolf Knight, and the High Raven King." **

"Who's the seventh?" L-Elf counted 6 out of 7.

Pino frowned, thinking hard… so hard that she puffed her cheek and tilted her head to one side. **"You know… I've quite forgotten its name…?" **Pino frowned even deeper, biting her lips… and then she gave up. **"I… hope it'll come back to me eventually… Anyway, Lieselotte holds the title of the Grim Witch. It's quite appropriate, really. Her preferred appearance was that of a person wearing a tattered cloak, carrying around a Scythe. Humans called the visage Grim Reaper… we called her Witch, because of her skill with Rune manipulation is the greatest of us." **

"What is she doing on earth?"

"**I punished her, see." **Pino answered. **"Centuries ago, humans betrayed her one time too many, and out of uncontrollable anger, she slaughtered a few hundred million humans in the Europe over the course of 7 years using a plague of her design. Humans called it the Black Death Plague. After that, I ordered her to stay on earth to repair the damage she had done and aid those whom she had put in harm's way." **Pino nodded. **"At the same time, I also ordered her to accelerate humanity's progress. In a sense… you could say she, and my consort Attlach, were the original founders of the Council 101."**

L-Elf entered a deep thought… a part of him thinks that perhaps it was but a coincidence of two people with the same name… but Magius can live forever… but… the Lieselotte she knows… and the Lieselotte Pino just described in that horrific slaughter… He then he took out an old photo and showed it to Pino. The Photo of Lieselotte. He asked. "Is this her?"

Pino looked at the photo, and blinked several times. She blushed and chirped cheerfully. **"My oh my! I knew she'll look prettier without that horrid hood!"**

THUD!

That was the sound of L-Elf, collapsing to his feet in disbelief. Pino's answer was like a death sentence to him. Lieselotte, the one woman she loved… is a MAGIUS!? The Ultimate Life-form that feeds on other human beings, standing atop a food chain of this world's ecosystem, her.

"**That's quite a shock for you I see."**

"B… But… that's impossible!" L-Elf quickly tried to recover his cold composure. He almost failed. "I know her! I've seen her! Magius wouldn't be able to age! I've seen her age! I've seen her grew older form a child into a teenager! How…"

"**Whether our medium can age or not… that is something a Magius can decide, really." **To demonstrate this, Pino transformed herself into the shape of a 10 year old girl, then a wrinkled old crone, and finally back to her original form. **"Time held no sway to us, we can appear at whatever age as we'd like it."**

"That's impossible… that's just…"

A-Drei momentarily ignored L-Elf shaken state and asked his own question. "But… if she merely changed her appearance, how is it that she entered a Dorssian royal family member? Did she mind-jacked a family member!?"

L-Elf's eyes snapped. Yes. That's it. That's his greatest horror. What if the woman that was the center of his world was actually a different creature then and now!?

"**Highly unlikely." **Pino look again at the photo. **"Hrmmm… when did this photo was taken?"**

"That was a photo of her 8 year old self."

"…**well, that's her alright. That's my Lieselotte right there." **Pino narrowed her eyes. **"And she still bears the Geass Curse I placed on her."**

"Geass?" 

"**Her punishment." **Pino shrugged. **"Humans probably can't see it. But as punishment for what she did, I placed a seal on her being that will constantly suck out her runes. Basically, it reduced her powers to human level. But, she's still immortal nonetheless."**

"You're lying!" L-Elf roared.

Pino shook her head. **"Magius CAN'T lie. We are beings of thoughts. We're not like humans who can speak one thing and think another. What we think is what we say and do. We have no control over that. Not unless we're inside a human vessel. Which is how those damn Councilor had clearly lied to me."**

"Which means… they will try to kill her, now that you're back and they clearly defy you. They're going to try to remove those who are loyal to you."

Pino laughed. **"Them? Kill her!? Ahahahahaha!"** The Former Queen revealed a terrible smile. **"Taking over the world is a hell lot easier feat than killing her, even when she's weakened to human level."**

**00000000000000**

Somewhere in Dorssia…

The nth assassin that the council sent fell to the ground, poisoned to death as white rats with green glowing eyes swarmed allover him, while Lieselotte fed on the other one. She knows that it won't do much good, with her Queen's curse did their job soon after, but… she does have her tricks.

When Cain walked in, she was already finished. Cain looked at the dead assassins at Lieselotte's feet. The one eyed Magius looked at the Grim Witch, her eyes shined purple as she swept the blood from her lips, and she's surrounded by her new pets, a whole swarm of white rats.

"Tell those traitors at the council … even cornered rats can bite."

Cain didn't say anything and carried the dead assassins and lift them up his back. "Nice to see your appetite's back."

"Then you know if you try to kill me the way I am now, you won't come out of it unscathed, Cain."

Cain nodded at the obvious.

"She'll come." Lieselotte replied as she looked at the snowy cloud out the window. "She will come, Cain. It's easier to prevent the heaven falling than to prevent that."

Cain didn't say anything and left.

**00000000000000**

"**Lieselotte is a genius in Rune Manipulation. And we call her the Witch because her specialty is in shape-shifting. And I'm not just talking about changing appearance. She can change her vessel down to the molecular level. She can be of different age, different gender, different person, different race altogether… even different species. Magius sometimes had to switch jacked bodies several times throughout the ages looking for a perfect fit… she's the only one who never had to." **Pino smiled. **"Even with me sealing off most of her Runes to human mortal level would do little to hinder her skills. Her true edge is in here." **She pointed at her own head to make her point. **"Not her strength of arms."**

L-Elf heard enough. Giving one last look at Pino, he walked out of the room, completely pale.

Pino noted this. **"…seems like your friend has a soft spot for Lieselotte."**

"L-Elf told me… a long time ago… Lieselotte gave him 'half' of her life to save his. Not exactly sure what that means… but… this much I understand." A-Drei noted. "L-Elf's goal to start a revolution in our nation, Dorssia, is singularly motivated by his devotion to her."

"**Dorssia, huh?" **Pino rubbed her chin. **"The one who started this whole mess. I've heard some things from Ryuuji when I first came here 20 years ago. But, he only told me enough to get some sketchy picture." **Pino sighed and looked at A-Drei. **"That being said… what happened, really, with Dorssia that is?" **

A-Drei nodded and understands this is going to be a long story. And so he took a seat. "…Dorssia… is an empire that was started by the Dorssian family, who came to power during the 15th century. From generation to generation, we grew and grew, surviving against whatever the world throw at us. From a small village, then to a town, a city, an entire nation… until eventually we became a super power at the beginning of the current century that encompassed roughly one quarter of the world. At the time, we reached the zenith of our empire. However… as you can guess as to what could happen to a nation at the peak of the mountain, the rule of the Dorssian Imperial family began to fail."

"**They put lesser man on the throne?"**

"No, the emperor is wise and just… it's just… he's less flexible man. Unable to cope with change and face the facts." Pino tilted her head, asking 'What facts?' to A-Drei with her look. "The fact that at this new age, new century… it's no longer time for institution called a nation to be controlled by a family-line. Those whose veins flows the same blood as the king may not be suitable to rule. And that's actually what happened. The Rule of Imperial line was failing. The prosperity of our nation began to decline. And then… it was then… at this point in our nation, along came a spider."

Pino quickly gave a good guess. **"Amadeus K. Dorssia."**

A-Drei laughed. "He doesn't have the Dorssia name before. He gained that when he married a family member. The Emperor agreed to this… not only because Amadeus is man of worthy bloodline, he's also a man of great resourcefulness. He became our military leader, and he championed military expansion. Dorssian military technology was already strong from the beginning, but under his command, it increase in power tenfold. Our Empire grew and expands through aggressive military expansion. Dorssia grew more powerful by annexing smaller nations, in a short 2 years after Amadeus entered, that's 20 years ago, and by then Amadeus was more firmly in control of Dorssia than the Emperor himself. The people loved him, for they are once again prosperous. One could say… he single handedly restore our nation."

"**Bu~ut?" **There's always a catch.**  
**

"He's ambitious. This much is obvious. He wants more than just… prestige and power… he wants… I think… everything. And he did it. 12 years ago, he arranged an all out Coup D'état. I was too young to understand what happened, but I do know, it happened on Thursday… and most of the members of the Dorssian family were murdered, executed after a short and brief trial. The rest, captured and imprisoned… or exiled to die. We called it… the Tragedy of the Red Thursday."

"**They wipe out all traces of the old, in with the new." **

"Well, the sick part is… people actually cheered when Amadeus hanged his own wife in public, he convicted her under at least a few dozen crimes against humanity. The sicker part is, we never even knew what exactly her crime was. Those who tried to find out went mysteriously missing." A-Drei sighed. "And finally… the sickest part is? When everything is said and done… things are way worse than ever. L-Elf… is one example. One of uncountable others. He's a true product of our nation: their failures… their cruelty. A direct result of Amadeus' unquenchable thirst for power."

"**Unchecked ambition and use of fear… two absolutes in a fall of a regime and the start of a new tyrannical one."** Pino rolled her eyes. **"I never asked more details from Ryuuji because I don't really care much of human politicking. Magius have seen enough of human civilization rise and fall to see future became past. Regimes change every day. Revolution, evolution… it's more or less the same story, each and every time."**

"However… revolution is exactly what Tokishima Haruto and Shashinami Shoko had started. Thanks to you really."

Pino frowned and smiled bitterly.

And then they heard stomping from outside. The door was slammed open… it was Ryuuji and he was completely out of breath in addition of being almost as pale as a ghost. "Pino? Queen Pino?"

"**Just Pino, Ryuuji. What happened? You looked like you've seen a ghost."**

"You should see this." Ryuuji looked at A-Drei. "You should come too… this concern Dorssia, your country."

"What?" A-drei was greatly alarmed.

"It's all over the news." Ryuuji stated. A-Drei quickly connected the computer to the Wired Network as Ryuuji explained the situation. "In the last few hours after that battle, there's been a global uprising. People all over the world went on ceremonious strike and they marched on the street, anarchy and frenzy everywhere. It's chaos. However, in reality a huge portion of the world's populace is still undecided, even after Shoko's and Haruto's speeches. Some still prefer to trust the council over us, or they still don't know yet what to decide. Jeffry faced an unprecedented civil unrest in Arus. It's happening simultaneously, in every part of Arus' sphere of influence, as do Jior. But in Dorssia… well…"

At that time, A-Drei managed to connect to the Wired, and as soon as the holographic screen of the computer lit up, the first that appear was the scene of the Dorssia's Fuhrer, Amadeus, giving his speech.

What was shocking was the fact that Amadeus did his speech, with a member of the Council of 101 at his side.

The headline made A-Drei's heart stop:

**Dorssia Magius Joint Alliance.**

**00000000000000**

"What can I say is that in my opinion those children are too hasty." Amadeus stated in the podium. "Too hasty, and too immaturely hot headed. And in that hot headedness they easily spout nonsense such as declaring a war. Like foolish youth they are, they recklessly gave the world a bloodthirsty council of war, unaware that the cost can be so huge. Clearly, they never even know what it's like to live during the time of war. However, they did achieve something." Amadeus presented the Councilor. "Ever since that declaration for war and that disastrous defeat, the Head Councilor of the Magius race had been in correspondence with our government."

The Said Councilor was a different person than the one who spoke with Pino a little earlier. **"Recent events have been… food for thought, shall we say? We may have been wrong or just being too overly hasty in making judgment. And for that, on behalf of the council, and the entire Magius race, we ask for an apology from the whole of humanity."** The Councilor even bent his head down. **"The Children of the Module 77 had indeed started a change. And may I remind you, change is painful. This rang true for both humans and Magius. And as a token of our sincerity, and seeing that we have decided to come into open, we have been in conversation with the Dorssian Fuhrer, and we both had agreed to form the first inter species alliance of Human and Magius. The Fuhrer is extremely interested."**

Amadeus continued. "Of course we're interested. The Magius had decided to take a different step towards the unknown new future. And they're prepared to change as necessary. Dorssia had agreed to accompany them into that bold new venture hand in hand. Hence, we've both had agreed to join in the Alliance. Not just for the prosperity of Dorssia, but also to for the good of all mankind. There's much that both of our people can share. This alliance will beneficial for all. And it's just a start."

"**This is a chance. A chance for humans and Magius to take the next step. To stand shoulder to shoulder, to solve the many problems that beset this world together!" **

The reporters flashed their cameras at the two figures. One reporter asked. "But what about the fact that the Magius' ruler, Queen Pinovalkia, is with the New Jiorians?"

"**About that…" **The Council spoke this time. **"We're not even sure if she is the Queen." **

**00000000000000**

Pino blinked.

**00000000000000**

"Not the Queen?" "How so?"

"**We have a reasonable suspicion that she may well be an impostor. She's a Magius… beyond the shadow of doubt. But perhaps one that has been deluded and deranged enough during the time it spent in imprisonment to think herself as the Queen. Insanity is something rather common in our people." **The Councilor pointed his head. **"Magius are a mentally fragile creatures. Feeding on Runes means absorbing memories. When we let someone else's memories get mixed with your own, we risk losing who we are in a storm of madness. If we're not careful, we may even begin to think we're another person." **

"But how can you be so sure if that wasn't your queen?"

"**The VVV project." **The Councilor looked at Amadeus to continue.

Amadeus put on the face of mortification. "It is a project that I'm ashamed to say, I was part of. I supplied the VVV project with technologies and some our own resources. However, I was left blind to everything else… that is… until, by sheer luck, I discovered the true horrors of what really going on." Amadeus continued. "They were experimenting with children. They performed countless inhuman practices that should never be performed by humans. When I heard of this… I was horrified… and I was ashamed that I've played my part in that inhuman project." Amadeus bowed down his head, as if asking forgiveness from the world. "When I direct my forces to attack Module 77, it was to stop that madness from going any further than it already has. But… I was too late… and even worse, I've accelerated the inevitable."

"**At this point, we began to have doubts." **The Magius Councilor followed. **"The Queen Pinovalkia that we knew was a kind and benevolent ruler. Just, caring, and one could even argue she's merciful to a fault. So as you might expect: experimentation on children and the creation of super weapons such as the Valvraves are two things she would normally frowned upon. And yet…"** The Councilor showed a video of the most recent battle. The Five Valvraves rampaging in the space, destroying Mag ideals and Waffes left and right.

A slight wrinkle is that the video has been clearly doctored with.

Everyone aboard the Module 77 knows that the latest battle was a battle between Valvrave and unmanned drones. There's no pilot, and so Valvraves can destroy every unit with all-out-impunity and inexistent mercy. The Valvrave pilots knew at least that much. And yet, the Waffes and the Ideals depicted in that video are clearly the manned types. And the way they destroyed the unmanned drones became perverted in the way they brutalized and violently killed the pilots as well.

**00000000000000**

Saki's eyes widened in disgust at the scene played out in the screen of her phone. "The hell? Anyone with half a brain would know this is a lie!"

**0000000**

"The fuck!?" Raizo growled whereas Yusuke frowned.

And the worst part was that they doctored the scene where Valvrave 01 dealt the final blow. Instead offering them mercy as he did, the video depicted 01 shot the Mag Carrier first, no offer of parley or warning.

**0000000**

"Oi! That last one is a bit too much don't you think!? Who the hell did they think humanity is? Idiots? Haruto's offer of surrender was broadcasted live across the world! Everyone knows that's not what happened!?" Shoko actually roared in anger.

**0000000**

"That's not the point isn't it?" A-Drei analyzed calmly. "The point is, they're showing just how powerful the Valvraves are. What's more, they just gave the image of how brutal we can be… when we no longer care about human life."

**00000000000000**

"**As you can see, these Valvraves truly are a set of destructive weapons of unprecedented capability. It easily put any weapon made by Magius and Human to shame." **The Councilor further followed. **"Such a thing… we find it hard to believe that the queen we know would willingly hand crafted such horrifying WMDs. So either the Queen was forced by the Jiorians to do it under unknown circumstances… or… this 'Pinovalkia' is just a delusional rogue Magius… utterly out of her wits… but let me stress this out… she's extremely, extremely dangerous." **

**00000000000000**

Ryuuji and A-Drei looked at Pino… whose expression was completely flat… as if she's not sure whether she should explode in anger or laughed her brains out at the sheer ridiculousness of it all. She finally resolved to a smirk. **"Well… at least they get the very last part right. I AM dangerous. In the extreme too." **

**00000000000000**

"**With that in mind, we would like to encourage the public to not be easily swayed by their promises or any other seemingly well meaning words. They could easily be lies spun out a maddened mind, or just children's immature delusions."**

The reporters kept taking pictures like there's no tomorrow.

"Putting that aside, there's no denying that this is a historic moment. A historic moment where Dorssia and the Valvravian Empire joined together." Amadeus faced the Councilor.

"**Let us both go together towards a bright new future."**

And the two world leaders shake hands to seal the deal, as the reporters and cameraman take their shots.

**00000000000000**

"Can you believe this shit?" Raizo was so angry he threw his new phone till it smashed the hangar wall to pieces.

**0000000**

"I don't understand…" Ryuuji frowned. "After all that… I'm surprised that… after everything… your people didn't just… rise up in revolt or something…"

A-Drei narrowed his eyes. The screen and the cameraman focused on the podium and the podium only. What he's interested in… is what's behind the podium. "Hmm… what's behind the stage? Is there no blow up view or something?"

"Blow up view?"

"Something like… a shot taken from further range… I need a view of the entire stage… and what's behind it."

Beep! Beep!

His phone rang. A Mobile-Mail from… "Renbokuji Akira?" A-Drei blinked and rolled his eyes. He opened it… the mail contains a link… to a video feed. Specifically, satellite imagery and the shot of the Podium… from four different angles, front, back, and side… all from Dorssian classified and encrypted security camera feed.

And then Ryuuji and Pino saw what exactly happened.

Behind the stage is… 2 Dorssian Mag Walkit Heavy cruiser docked to the ground, 10 more floating high above, accompanying 4 Mag Carriers. All accompanied by the Mag Waffes, Mag Ideals, manned and unmanned… and…

A new kind of mech. First glance, it looked like an Ideal… a heavily buffed Ideal… with bigger limbs, bigger guns… and one glaring feature: midflight, it transformed into a long armed humanoid mode.

"Is that… the Kirschbaum!? I thought that thing is still in prototype stage!"

Pino think they resemble something else entirely. **"In my opinion they look more like… ****Gargorves****." **

A-drei and Ryuuji looked at Pino questioningly… and ludicrously.

"**Fran loved to make them all the time. Stone sentinels he designed as automated defenses for our castles. Back in the day." **Pino tilted her head. **"You know… big muscly hands and claws, big wings, big fangs… all made of stone?"**

"Gargoyles." Ryuuji nodded.

"Whatever." A-Drei doesn't want to count how many more Earth's mythical monsters are actually Magius in disguise or Magius creation. "At any rate… I said the Kirschbaum is a prototype but…" Those Kirschbaum had been thoroughly modified with Valvrave tech. Its wings were added with multiple rings of Sense nerves of the Valvrave wings, colored with the usual neon green. And they've been heavily armored as well with clear fossil composite armor.

"They got… at least 20 of them encircling the whole stage…" Ryuuji shook his head. No wonder no one dares to rise up. They try anything funny, and those things will squash them all flat. "Good old fashioned Reign of Terror by military arms."

"This is not ruling anymore. This is downright tyranny and oppression." A-drei growled. "I can't believe that even the Fuhrer would-"

"**That's not Amadeus." **Pino sighed. **"That's Mirko. One of Attlach's Familiar." **Pino glanced at A-Drei. **"Your Fuhrer is dead." **

A-Drei was clearly angered to no end. "That's it then. Queen Pino… about that demand we're talking about earlier."

"**I can guess." **Pino sighed. **"…let me think it over. You'll have my answer before sundown." **

**00000000000000**

Saki turned off her phone in anger.

And then, she heard the sound of clanking from her back, the door was opened from inside. Saki took a step back and Haruto walked out the cage… his mouth smeared in blood.

"Oh, god… you're bleeding."

"Not mine. His." He jerked his thumb back and Saki saw the said Magius was twitching and absolutely traumatized. But he's still alive. "Watched everything." Haruto showed a cellphone. Like the blood, it also belongs to the prisoner. "Now… first thing first… where's Aina-chan?"

Soon, down in the hospital…

Rion and Marie looked after the dying Aina, also accompanied by the other pilots (bar Akira, who nevertheless spared an eye to watch over Aina through the computer screen)… and they have no idea what to do to stop her condition from deteriorating.

"What should I do? I've replaced the IV but she's still not getting better…" Rion fretted.

Marie's flat expression also covers her concern. She attempted to make a light joke. "Maybe you should let her feed from your breasts, Nanami-chan."

"E… Eehhh?" Rion blushed furiously.

It was then, Pino suddenly phased through the floor, scaring the begeesus out of everyone. **"Halo~o everyone! I'm here to check on Aina-chan… eh…" **Her eyes gaze on Aina… and then to the flat faced Marie… her eyes widened ever so slightly. **"Marie-chan? Marie-chan right?"**

Marie frowned. Now that she get a closer look at her, something about the Queen is strangely familiar. "How did you know my name?"

Pino's eyes shined in recognition… but she quickly disguise it with her usual bubliness. **"Student registry!" **To show this, she pulled out a window with Marie's profile on it. **"And then there's Iori-chan, Nanami-chan, Takahi-chan…" **Pino grinned wide. **"Anyway… how's Aina?"**

Rion fretted. "She's losing. I don't know what to do."

Pino gently caress Aina's cheek. Her immaterial finger can't touch her, but it left sparks of Runes when she made contact.

And then, the hospital door opened, Haruto and Saki walked in. Pino looked at her bond partner. **"You've fed?"**

Haruto nodded. He approached the pale and waning Aina, pulled back his sleeve to show his arm and gently shove it Aina. "There… Aina… Aina! Feed!"

"**She's too weak to even open her mouth. Slit your vein, let her drink your blood… her body will do the rest."**

Haruto nodded. He grabbed the scalpel and slit his wrist, blood poured out and Haruto gently pressed it to Aina's lips. As soon as the blood reached Aina's lips, she was instantly revitalized, and her eyes spring open. She grabbed Haruto's wrist and open her mouth, revealing fangs. Hungrily, she bit deep into Haruto's wrist and drank thirstily.

Rion gasped when she saw this terrifying spectacle, while Marie was unmoved. Haruto grunted and endure as he can feel Aina is feeding off him, drinking and absorbing the Runes he's providing for her.

Down in the hangar, the black color returned to 05, and Inuzuka Kyuuma opened his eyes in the console, rejuvenated at last.

And even so, Aina continue to unconsciously feed off Haruto. In the midst of this, Haruto eyed Raizo and Yusuke. "You two…" Haruto remarked. "You feed off me as well."

"Ergh?" Yusuke gaped and Raizo winced. "Aniki!?"

"Out of all of us, I'm the only who had been feeding… regularly. You two haven't had a bite at all. I suggest you do so now. Since we're going to war, we can't afford to run out of Runes in the middle of combat later."

"But…"

"**Haruto be careful." **Pino was somewhat distressed. **"Let me remind you. You're not just feeding yourself, you're feeding the Valvraves, you're feeding me! If you lose so much runes at such furious rate-"**

"It's okay." Haruto smirked weakly. "I just fed on this Magius guy… and he's been spending centuries feeding off people, he's like a Rune Piggy bank. It was quite a feast. I got plenty for all of us. Come on now."

"Aniki! You don't have to do this!" Raizo protested. "If it's just feeding, we can just feed on one of the Dorssian prisoners."

"You do no such thing." Haruto stated. "Believe me. Feeding off other human minds is a dangerous and nasty business. A very painful affair if you don't know what you're doing."

"I don't care! They're Dorssians! They've earned it!" 

"If we fed on them to the death, we lose!" Haruto roared at Raizo, earning his attention. "I watched that speech earlier… they make it as if we're monsters. I tell you right now, if any of you fed on other human beings, we'll simply prove that they are right. That we're nothing more than just human eating monsters. We are better than that!"

Raizo frowned. "But you've fed on them."

"Because I've already become one. A human eating monster, that is." Haruto smiled bitterly. "I've used myself, my hunger, in a capacity of a slaughter. One monster among us is more than enough. Let's not add the number."

Raizo nodded and understand. "But I still don't see why we can't use those Dorssians! After what they did to us! The shit they put us through…!"

"You hate them, Raizo?" Haruto asked. "You hate them because they killed your friends? Treated you badly?"

"That and lots more! They're arrogant sons of bitches with all their high and mighty attitude, thinking they own the damn place, taking whatever they wanted!"

"Kinda like you just now."

"I-!" Raizo's retort caught up in his throat upon hearing that.

"You just easily declared that Dorssian soldier's life ain't worth a dime." Haruto looked calmly at the gaping Raizo. "If that's how you treat them, how were you be any different than the Dorssians? They're humans too, you know."

"Aniki…" Raizo frowned and tuck his head down.

"If you hate them so much… if you dislike them for behaving the way they are… then the best you can do, is to not stoop to their level. Don't become one of them."

"But Nobu… they killed Nobu! You're asking me to let go, forgive and forget?"

"No. Never forget. Remember him. Mourn him. But don't let it consume you." Haruto still let Aina fed on him, and she doesn't seem to be stopping any time soon. That last battle had nearly drained her dry. "When I first ride a Valvrave I know I do so because I want revenge. I saw my childhood friend seemingly vaporized right in front of my eyes, I went mad with grief. And in the end, I made all sorts of wrong decisions. I lied to Shoko, kept the whole Valvrave thing a secret until it's too late, and I'm forced to hurt many other people." Haruto looked at Raizo. He seems had entered a solemn, humbled look as he gazed thoughtfully to the floor. "You remember when we talked in the classroom, about you demanding me to give you Unit 01? You were so consumed by anger and grief, all you can think of is revenge. You were just like me then. I didn't give it to you then because I was afraid you'll become something… worse than what I am now. However, when you saw how Yusuke ride the Valvrave the first time, you let it go right? You didn't demand him to force him to give it to you." 

"Well… it's because… Yusuke got the skills needed… at the time."

"And this second time when you finally pilot it? What drives you?"

He roared proudly: "I want to fight, of course! And I want revenge to and… and…" Raizo looked at Aina, at Haruto, at Yusuke… and then he added more humbly. "…I just don't want anymore of my pals die. That's all."

"And that's what makes you a better man than the Dorssians. And you have to keep it that way. And seeing I'm the one who started this… making sure you remain the noble hearted man you once were is my job." Haruto smiled. End of discussion. He unfurled the sleeves covering his rear arm as well. "Hora, bite!"

Yusuke and Raizo looked at each other and they finally nodded before reluctantly approached Haruto's arm.

"Haruto… sorry!" And Yusuke bite down.

"One day… I swear I'm going to repay you for this, Aniki!" Raizo also bite down.

Saki clasped her mouth in sorrow. So this is Haruto's way of shouldering everything? He's going to become a battery to fuel all other Valrave pilots? Including her? 'Haruto…'

Haruto glanced at Saki. "Saki… you-"

"YOU SHUT UP!" Saki screeched, tears rolling down her eyes. "Don't you dare ask me to do it! Don't you even speak of it! I won't!" Saki cried. "Never! Never…!" One more tearful look at how the other pilots are becoming increasingly ravenous in their feeding of Runes… of Haruto… Saki felt a nudge on her chest. And she gasped, realizing what it was.

She wants to feed too.

She wants to feed BAD! The spider web markings appeared on her neck. The hunger was ravaging her sanity inside out. But, seeing the pained look in Haruto, she mustered every shred of willpower she had and said to herself. "No." Saki clasped Haruto's tightly gripped hand as she sat at his side, tucking her head to his and hugged him close to support him. "No. Never. Never…!"

Pino looked at this scene and felt utterly horrible. As Queen, she possesses more than enough Runes to sustain herself virtually indefinitely outside her shell. As a Magius, she's well aware of the uncontrollable hunger that plagues her race. She worked for eons to try to find a solution… but she never once considered this sort of solution. To sacrifice herself and let her people fed on her vastly larger pool of runes. And yet Haruto allowed his friends to do so without a second of fear or a moment's hesitation.

Her people never believed in God or deities, and so they never prayed… but just for this instance… Pino felt she needs to pray.

'**If there's an actual God out there… watch over this one child… will you?'**

**00000000000000**

Meanwhile, a pouting Shoko was walking furiously across the corridor. She was still enraged by the horrid lies shown on the TV when suddenly she bumped on an equally delirious L-Elf. "Ow! Sorry! L-Elf?"

The cold eyed Dorssian Soldier looked like a walking corpse. "…Shashinami… Shoko…"

"L-Elf! You… okay?" Shoko momentarily forgotten about her anger upon seeing the usually calm and collected L-Elf look… shaken.

"…" He didn't say anything… and he certainly doesn't want to say anything. L-Elf ignored her looks and just kept dragging his feet like a corpse.

That was Shoko's cue to pursue things further. "L-Elf? Oi! L-Elf!" She grabbed him by the hand.

That caused him to snap. "Let go of me!"

Shoko frowned. "What's wrong?"

"None of your damn business!" L-Elf barked and glared at her with intimidating mad eyes, the idea was to scare her off.

"L-Elf?" Contrary to being scared, Shoko blinked several times in curiosity. The sight of that cold robotic-like L-Elf has become such a staple with him… that suddenly the sight of him showing any form of emotion at all… albeit a shaken one was truly something of great interest to her.

Seeing he didn't get what he wanted, L-Elf chose to avert his gaze and walked away from Shoko.

Call it gut instinct, Shoko felt that she need to press on with this one. So she made a phone call and…

L-Elf kept dragging his feet… and follow wherever the road led… he wanted to go back to his room but… door closed, left turn, door closed, right turn… 5 minutes later. He's right back where a smirking Shoko was waiting.

L-Elf may be delirious, but his brain is still working just fine to figure what's going on. "Shashinami Shoko… call Renbokuji Akira and tell her to stop."

"Oh, you're still alive. Right. I'm afraid that won't work. Akira is still angry for what you did to her the last time, so she's doing this for a great amount of personal satisfaction."

Akira smirked widely before her screen.

"I can break your limb one at a time right in front of her. Then we'll see how much fun she'll have."

Shoko was undaunted. "See that?" Shoko pointed at a door. "That's an air chute. We use to throw in trashes and stuff. It's vacuum there… we never opened it any bigger than a few centimeters… but we can open it up as big as full grown man. It'll toss you straight into garbage bin, and then straight into the airlock." The girl pointed at her waist. "And I'm the only one with a safety belt."

L-Elf frowned and he looked at the brown haired girl. "Surprising… you… and Tokishima Haruto… didn't expect the both of you to have so much guts… and thought to put into this."

"We're leveling things up to your level, L-Elf. That seems to be the only way we can get through to you." Shoko smiled. "So… wanna tell me what's going on?"

"Why do you care?"

At this Shoko mockingly mimicked the way L-Elf talk: "This country needs me!" Shoko smirked. "Isn't that what you told Haruto? What you told all of us? Well, I hate to admit it, but you're right. This country needs your help… just as much as you need this country. The thing is… you are obviously not in your best state. If not physically then your mind is. We need you intact, body and mind."

"…"

"So tell me. What's wrong with you?"

"You think you can help?"

"You tell me what's buggin' you, I might." Shoko smiled.

L-Elf grunted and glared. "…what do you do when you find out someone you care turned into a Monster?"

Shoko blinked. "…that's it? That's your problem?"

L-Elf shrugged.

"Dude… you blew my childhood friends to bits right in front of me just to show me that he already turned into a Space Vampire." Shoko snarled.

And L-Elf had to fight an urge to jaw drop and slap himself silly for forgetting the fact. That's right. How could he forget? Shashinami Shoko is in the exact same shoes as he is right now. "…how did you deal with it?"

"We talked, and we admitted the truth. Haruto and I. We talked and we came to terms to what we are. I'm human, he's a Magius. And the two of us had to live with that now."

"Truth…" L-Elf mourned. "Then why didn't she tell me the truth?"

"She?" Shoko frowned in some thought. "This… Lieselotte?"

L-Elf shrugged. "She's a Magius. But she didn't tell me. Why?"

"Ask her then."

"She had many chances to tell me… why didn't she?"

"Obviously, there's only one person who can tell you that." Shoko stated simply. "And if you really care for her… and you really believed that she really cared for you… only one person can ask her, right?"

"I don't know what to believe!"

"Then go back." Shoko easily added. "Go back… to the memories you two spent together, the she you believed. The things she says, the things she do. That's what I do. When I found out Haruto kept secrets from me I… I was… angry. Lost and confused. But then… then the way he behave after that… and then he finally decided to tell me the truth… He may be a monster… but there's a part of him that still remains the same. How do I know this? I just look back on the him… in my memories. And find back my connection there."

L-Elf looked at Shoko… and he's having a hard time believing that he's actually considering of taking up Shoko on her advice. If he think about it… before Tokishima Haruto and Rukino Saki's relationship took towards that step, it was obvious that Shashinami Shoko's feelings to him were more than friends… "…I've heard from Yusuke Otamaya and Inuzuka Aina… that you once had a chance to become a Magius. Why did you pass it up?"

Shoko chuckled, and then she removed her safety belt, a sign for Akira to lax things up a bit. "…you know what it's like to be the daughter of a prime minister?"

"I can imagine… but I'd reckon I'll just let you tell me."

Shoko smirked. "There's a sense of… detachment. It put you in a rather harsh perspective. My father stood there in the podium, making speech to defend his country, while I wrestled with a big fat old lady on a sale for a new T-Shirt that barely fits me."

L-Elf tilted his head, not understanding the point.

"There's some… lofty expectations… that the society as a whole demanded out of you. There's… some kind of pressure… being a daughter of a prime minister you were expected to behave in certain way and all that. You should do this, don't do that. It's kinda like… the society tryin' to shape you, based on what they think… you should behave. And they partially succeeded. Now… considering some of these memories are real, I remember… when other kids were reading comic books, I was reading state bills and political strip news." Shoko chuckled. "But eventually, in my personal opinion… I say… who cares. I do what I want, when I want. Being the greedy queen of the universe. Hah."

"Somehow… I can see how that suits you."

"I'll consider that a compliment." Shoko chuckled. "By all accounts, my predicaments made me somewhat detached from the rest. So I decided to dumb down, and be more earthly. And I did it. Most of my pals in the school know who I am… but… they never cared anyway."

"Alright. I get the picture. So what's the point?"

"My point is… Haruto, Rukino-san, Aina, Inuzuka, Yusuke, Yamada… and now Akira. Everyone had become detached from humanity, literally. Problem is… they're living in a society where… society as a whole cannot tolerate existences like them. Blame it on how the culture and history had shaped humanity to behave that way. You and me… for instance."

"Excuse me?"

"You called Haruto a monster, didn't you? Even I think of him as a monster at some point… when he slaughtered everyone on that ship." Shoko sighed. "But… as the cat finally out of the bag, and we came to terms with everything… I realize they need a place to belong. A place to call home in a world where… where they're the minority, the outcasts… and the majority is their enemy. That's what I'm trying to do. To create a safe haven for them. A place where their heart may lie. A home."

"But why stay human?"

"The majority of the world is human right now. I need to be an example. An example for the rest of the humanity that you don't have to fear them, even though you're a human. In order to be THAT particular example, I can't do that as a Magius. I need to STAY human." Shoko smiled kindly. "Because the minority needs friends… and the Majority needs an example. One is good."

L-Elf shook his head.

"What?"

"Never take you to be that smart."

"Never take you to be such a softy, doing all this for a sweetheart and all."

L-Elf glared, Shoko merely grinned wide.

L-Elf scoffed and turned around, ready to leave. But before he do, Shoko had a few last words. "You know… I think I understand… why Haruto didn't tell me anything the first time. He was afraid… afraid that I, of all people, will call him a monster. He was afraid that, once the truth come out, I will hate him." Shoko sighed. "This is just a guess. But maybe that's why she didn't tell you anything. She was afraid… that when you'll learn the truth… you'll call her monster. And she can't stand it. She feared it."

L-Elf scoffed. "You and Tokishima haruto are quite alike. You're so naïve."

"Hey I told you it's a guess. If you wanna know the truth… the best way is to ask her personally. Right?"

"You make it sound as if it was so easy!"

"Hey don't look at me. Last I checked, there's only one person here smart enough to think of something as crazy as a one man Coup D'état. And he succeeded too, if I might add."

L-Elf didn't say anything and walk away.

Shoko merely shook her head as she watched L-Elf disappeared from her sights around the corner.

Beep. Beep.

A text from Akira.

**I don't like him. He's mean.**

"Nah! He's just a big softie at heart." Shoko chuckled. "You hungry Akira?"

And as Shoko walked away, another figure who had been listening from this conversation from start to finish phased out of the wall.

Pino looked at L-Elf… then to Shoko in amazement and, dare she say it, admiration and respect.

**00000000000000**

Later… nearing the evening…

Ryuuji was strolling across the still ruined school, when he noticed a figure fluttering on the school roof.

At the rooftop…

"…Pino?"

"**Ryuuji." **Pino smiled sadly. **"…humans are incredible creatures. I spent centuries studying them, and yet they never fail to surprise me."**

Ryuuji tilted his head.

"**Tokishima Haruto. I once said… that he of all people deserved to be given this gift of immortality. And I still stand by it, in fact… after what I see today… I would even go as far to say he earned it, a hundred times over." **Pino smiled. **"And then there's Shashinami Shoko. She could've become an immortal, she deserve it, she needed it… but she didn't. She sacrificed her privilege… her chance for eternal happiness… all for the love of her friends. To give them somewhere to call home."  
**

Ryuuji waited.

"**I'm a terrible ruler, you know."** Ryuuji look disapprovingly at Pino, but Pino smiled. **"Yes I am. Haruto and Shoko are unimaginably wise children. Wiser than even me. If they had been in my position then… they probably would not have made the same mistakes that I did. Both children are more than worthy of the gift I've given them. But…" **Pino now remember what everyone who had received her 'gift' had endured. **"…I'm starting to think I've made a big mistake… for ever even considering the idea of doing this project. You know… if I think about it now, maybe it's because I started this whole thing under the thought pattern that mortality is a bad thing for humanity. And now they have to live with that mistake for the rest of their lives… because of me."**

"You can't punish yourself too harshly for this, Pino." Ryuuji replied. "We leaders can only make well meaning decisions on perfect idealism. We cannot expect for everything to work perfectly as we had planned."

"**A leader is responsible for the lives of those who followed them. If they make even a tiniest mistake, then those who follow that leader will suffer… right?"**

Ryuuji chuckled. "On earth… we have a saying: we're only human. That's a way for us to understand that a human, no matter what position he was in… or what power his rank gave him, from a mere commoner to a king… is not exempt from making mistakes."

Pino blinked several times and grinned wide. **"Maa! What a splendid philosophy!"**

"Ah… really?"

"**Yes! Covers all manners of mishaps to the inherent and irremovable flaw of humanity! Incredible! Human frailty, banza~ai!" **Pino cheerfully raised her hands in celebration.

Ryuuji sweatdropped, not sure if Pino was praising or sarcastically insulting the entire human race.

"**Magius can't make mistakes." **Pino smiled sadly. **"It has nothing to do with whether we're smarter or older than you… that's just the way we are. In our universe, abstract thoughts and physical reality are one. We just need to think of it and the object of our desire will appear exactly as we wanted them to be, no defects, no flaw - perfect." **Pino smile faltered slightly. **"…but that's just dead end… isn't it? Perfect means there's no room for improvements. And so we cannot grow. Maybe that's why our universe was destroyed by yours. We're standing stock still… while humans grow and expand from their mistakes. Be that as it may… why do mistakes is such a frustrating thing? It's good isn't it? So why do humans hate it so? Why do Magius hates it so? Ne? Ryuuji? Why do all beings hate mistakes?"**

Ryuuji tilted his head. "Hrmmh…" he scratched his not so itching head, trying to figure out an answer. "Maybe because of… the concept of responsibility." Pino listened intently. "When a human make mistake, a sense of guilt invade their mind. Normally, it was followed by an overwhelming need to fix things… to make it right again. Kinda like how you wanted to erase the thirst to feed from your race but you haven't been able to. The thirst is a mistake… and you're trying to fix it."

"**I see… the fundamental basis of human conscience eh…" **Pino pointed at her chin and nodded. **"But… why is it such an unpleasant feeling though? Is it not the fundamentals of things: you make mistake, and you fix it?"**

"Because fixing a mistake is not easy… nor is it pleasant." Ryuuji closed his eyes. "More often than not… it requires you to commit sacrifices to make things right again. Sadly, it is also a fundamental flaw of mankind to always want the easy way out. We just don't like sacrifices, because that means we may have to give up something we never be able to get back… hence we hate mistakes… and we tried our best to prevent it."

"**Give up… means never surrender right? The basis that made human such a resilient race." **Pino tilted her head, excitedly analyzed this particulars of human psyche. **"I always thought that to be a good thing… but interestingly you made it as something bad."**

"We are complex that way." Ryuuji laughed. "Too much of a good thing is as bad as not having any at all."

"…**limit. Huh? Now you're talking about limit… and now I'm reminded on the human limited lifespan… limit of the fleshly shape… Limit… the very basis of humanity's existence: Limit. Limiting your existence and then trying your very best to surpass them…" **Pino closed her eyes in deep thought, assessing, pondering the meaning and smirked.

"The sun is almost down, Queen Pinovalkia Acachia Walvravia." Suddenly, a stern cold voice from A-Drei attracted the two leaders. "What are your answers?"

"**I see. You're right." **Pino smiled. **"…I only have one condition."**

"?"

"**Stop calling me queen." **Pino gleefully noted. **"It's just like what Shoko said. They are naughty children indeed… and now, they are in serious need of a thorough Ass Spanking."**

**00000000000000**

In short order, Pino, Ryuuji and A-Drei called all the Valvrave Pilots – bar Akira who's already there - to join them in the hangar. Shoko was also there, having accompanied Akira on another snack pig out.

When they arrived, Shoko was quick to notice something amiss…

In particular, she noticed the fact that Yusuke and Aina, two people she knew wear glasses… came there no longer wearing it.

"Yusuke? Aina-chan? Where are your-"

"-Glasses?" Yusuke grinned wide. "We just fed on Runes and… after we're done…"

"W-w-w-we suddenly found out… that our eyesight… had improved…" She stuttered in her usual shy tone. This is Sakurai Aina's consciousness inside Sakurai Aina's body alright.

"And watch this!" Raizo grinned. He grabbed a floating steel bar… and then he twisted it around like it was a tin foil. "Being a Magius is awesome!"

Pino calmly analyzed this. **"Of course… clotting rate improved, regenerative factor enhanced, significant enhancements in muscle strength, and elasticity and flexibility relative to the amount of Runes absorbed…"** She looked at Yusuke and Aina. **"All forms of deficiency are being restored to their proper setting, like poor eyesights restored back to normal… and more."**

A-Drei thought something else entirely. 'But… L-elf told me these three most likely fed from Tokishima Haruto… if the leeches were this strong… just how strong is the main host…?' He eyed Haruto suspiciously.

"It can restore eyesights, but… restoring limbs… is a bit… hard?" Aina gazed hopefully at the core of 05, where Inuzuka Kyuuma resides.

"**They take time. Particularly if the subject is still human."** Pino mournfully noted. **"However… I'd like to stress out one thing before you all get overly excited with your new strengths and all."**

All Novus Magius pay close attention.

"…**there's a reason why Valvraves has a 100 heat limiter." **Pino stated. **"The gauge is the limit of how much heat the Valvraves are accumulating. That heat came from the Runes that are coruscating throughout the Valvraves circuitry and structural frames. And those Runes… came from YOU. It's also another way of saying… it shows how much Runes you had been using." **

"How is it bad?" Yusuke asked.

"Runes are information particle." An answer came, but not from Pino, but from Kibukawa floating down, aided by Rion. "Runes came from thoughts and knowledge. The greatest source of knowledge from human is from their memories. I guess in retrospect, that means that Runes are inexhaustible, as they are easily replenished. All you had to do is make some new memories. But using Runes is equivalent to using the information in your own head." Rion stopped Kibukawa and let him hang suspended in the sky for everyone to see. Kibukawa glanced apologetically to Yusuke.

Yusuke gave him a solemn look and nodded.

Kibukawa smiled sadly and continued. "First normal combat run, everything seems okay. And so is second and third… but… on the forth and fifth occasion you do so without feeding on anyone… your defense mechanism will trigger. You'll went berserk… like Haruto." Kibukawa nodded to Haruto. "And if even after that, you still haven't fed on anything… your memories will begin to blur… and finally… they'll disappear completely." Kibukawa's look darkened. "And if you continue to use the Valvraves in that state…" Everyone gulped. "Your other memories will continue to blur and disappear rapidly, one by one. Starting with the oldest, increasingly rapidly moving all the way up to the earliest… until finally… after you reached a certain critical point, there's no going back." Kibukawa added darkly. "Your runes will literally leaked out, and your limiter will be broken. They will flow out uncontrollably and your memories will disappear… until finally… you will use up the information called life. In short… you'll die."

The pilots paled.

"How did you know this?" A-Drei frowned.

"Kibukawa was the one responsible for overseeing the students' mental health. His main concerns are particularly on children whom we have… used to test the Rave Engine." Ryuuji was somewhat careful on this issue.

"**The only way to stave off this, is by feeding on runes routinely… once a month… or in this case… seeing that you're about to enter into an intense combat with a significantly improved and wargeared Valvrave… you may want to keep watch on a weekly basis." **

"Whoa… wait one second there…" Raizo suddenly raised his hand. "I didn't entirely catch the whole Rune thingamajig thing… but I caught something about… Improved Valvrave?"

The Valvarve pilots looked at Pino once again.

"**Yes, Thunder-Kun, you heard me right." **Pino smiled. **"We're all aware of how bad the situations are. And as such, I'm gonna give a thorough upgrades to all your Valvraves. Once I'm through with them you might not be able to recognize them anymore."**

"Upgrades… huh…" Yusuke looks somewhat excited.

"You guys had seen it. These weapons they're using right now? They're effective against anything made by humans… but…" The Jior Hangar Man stated. "We're fighting against Magius tech… Valvrave tech. And… it looks like we need an edge to fight them."

"That is to be expected." Another Jior Hangar crew stated. "The only thing that is truly alien in the Valvraves is the Rave Engine. The Frames, the clear fossil, the sense nerves, they were all built using a combination of human adapted alien tech blueprint and composite earth substitutes. The arsenals though… the Z-Edges, the Fold Sickle, the Spindle Knuckles, Bolt Phalanx, Armstronger arms… they're all products of reverse engineering of the former two."

A-Drei noticed something. "…the weapons. Only the weapons?"

The original Valvrave hangar crews looked at each other and bit their lips. "…Pino… never gave us any weapon schematics."

With the cat out of the bag, the civilians of Jior felt they no longer need to keep their identity and former life as Jior soldier a secret. They may not design the Valvraves, but most of them are well aware on how to maintain them. Some of the scientist in the construction of the Valvrave was also present (though obviously not all of them)… but the army was the one who designed and put the weapons aboard the Valvraves.

"We're sorry for putting them on your Valvraves… Queen Pino."

And what Pino think about it was…

"**Truth be told… I'm more amazed than upset, really." **

"You are?"

"**Yes. See, the reason I didn't put any weapons in these new Valvraves was because I designed them as some form of… Memorials. They're practically monuments, kinda like when you humans build statues to honor your dead or commemorate notable achievements… they belong in the graveyard or a museum. So really? I'm amazed you guys can actually hold out this long using ****tourist attraction****."**

Jaw drops all around.

"Let's not forget luck."

Everyone turned and saw L-Elf come walking towards them. He's a lot calmer and more composed than he was some time ago, much to Shoko and Pino's surprise. "These untrained idiots must have an unimaginable luck to survive for so long."

"Excuse me!? Who you're calling idiots!?" Raizo growled.

"The sort of idiots who allowed their module being boarded more than twice in a row. The sort of idiots who allowed one person to take over their country in a day. If that's not idiocy… I don't know what is." In his usual style, L-Elf spared no mercy in his brutal criticism.

Raizo's face reddened in anger and he tightened his ball and made a move towards L-Elf, but Haruto grabbed hold of him by the shoulder. "Thunder… he's right." Haruto shook his head and Raizo calmed down considerably. "As far battle skills go, we're wet behind the ears. The only reason we survive, is simply because Valvraves are super weapons with incredibly toughness… but we barely make full use of their full performance. It doesn't matter if we're not human who can no longer age or grow ill, we can still die."

Haruto look at L-elf. He still remember what happened when it was L-Elf in command of the Valvrave. He turned that thing into a beast with sheer instinctive skill alone. If L-elf can somehow maintain his full mental faculty when piloting the Valvrave, Haruto shuddered at what he can do. "L-Elf is our main instructor. He can train us… can you L-Elf?"

L-Elf nodded. "There are several Waffes in the Walkit, we can use that for space combat training."

"Uh-uh. I don't think so." One of the hangar crew replied. "I checked the OS… Those two are completely different in control system complexity and concept."

"I'm aware. The only thing with complexity equaling that of the Valvrave are ideals… but we've destroyed all but two units. And that is not enough. I know practicing Waffe is highly insufficient compared to actual Valvarves, but we have to make do. We can't use the Valvraves, as Pino stated earlier, she's going to upgrade them, and so they will be off limit."

"Isn't there something else we can use? Simulator or something."

"It's not the same, Tokishima Haruto." L-Elf started. "Things are way faster in the Valvrave and in real combat compared to combat simulator, no matter how realistic they may be. The problem is we simply… don't have the time to go at this the slow way."

"Well…" Ryuuji suddenly lifted a finger. "There may be… something… that we can use… something akin to Valvrave… but not exactly a Valvrave."

"?"

Ryuuji brought them all to another section of the Module. The one part where the students had yet reached. And if they reached it, they can't enter it anyway. It was located a few rooms from the hangar, just behind the chamber where the scientists kept the capsules containing the ruined and incomplete Valvraves, sealed and disguised as an unassuming wall.

"You need exclusive access, my DNA, in order to enter this section." A red scanner scanned Ryuuji's eye, and then the wall opened.

Behind the wall, is… a factory. A massive city sized factory where, judging by some the components hanging on the conveyor belt, were the place where the Valvraves, and their spare parts, were manufactured. But… everyone's attention was quickly directed to the centerpiece of that factory.

They looked like valvraves…

But they're not. There are several obvious noticeable differences… Their headcrests are less elaborate. Their armors are standardized to look like a simplified version of 01's armor. But they have no Sense Nerve wings like the original. Instead, there are hardpoints for attaching various equipments, based on situation.

And there are 7 of them identical units on standby… and another baker being partially constructed.

"We called them Kagerou." Ryuuji stated as the group walked across the caged Mass Production models. "A mass produced version of the Valvrave. They outwardly looked like the first five Vavraves but… unlike the first five which incorporate some percentage of alien tech, Kagerou's insides are 100% earth-made. And so as you can imagine… they're nothing like the original ones but…"

"**The Engine?"** Pino rubbed her chin.

"We… haven't figured everything out… but we designed a system called Mirror Rave Engine." Ryuuji explained. "Unlike the original six Rave Engines that you gave us, Mirror Rave engine are pale imitation, only capable of barely one fifth of its output. That being said, the unit requires to be recharged periodically, unlike the original six, their rave engine cannot replenish itself."

"That doesn't make sense." L-Elf frowned. "I understand it that Valvraves require Runes from its pilot to replenish its energy."

"The Original rave Engine needs an actual Magius or a Novus Magius pilot to fully function. The Kagerous were designed to be piloted by a homo sapien novus. Not magius."

Pino quickly understand. **"They have no injection system to turn the Sapien into Magius."**

"But they have biometric scanner and a system we would like to call a Novus Inducer. Basically, a Sapien Novus enter that unit, they can manipulate Runes, used them for weapons, just like a Magius… but… to a far less potent level. It's highly insufficient… and… like I said… their powers pale in comparison to the original ones, but enough to fly and give an admirable performance. The idea was they were there to support the commando units, that is, the Original Valvraves. Theoretically though… if an actual Novus Magius were to get in there… it may pump the performance even further above its original specs."

Haruto approached one Kagerou. The neon green sense nerve visors were darkened and gloom. This thing has no power yet.

"Tokishima Haruto-"

"I know." Haruto knew exactly what L-Elf wanted him to do. He closed his eyes, concentrating… and then a massive amount of neon green runes amassed on his hand. He touched the foot of the Kagerou with that hand… and then an instant later, the rune energy coruscated throughout the unit. And soon, all its system came online, and the visor glowed neon green.

"Perfect." L-Elf nodded. "We can use this to train and defend ourselves while the original ones are being upgraded." L-Elf looked at the other incomplete units. "Is there any way you can modify them to be used by normal humans?"

"I'm afraid not. We designed it for Sapien Novus… not normal homo sapien. Sorry."

"Pity." L-Elf shrugged flatly. And then, one by one, mimicking Haruto, Saki did the same with a kagerou, Aina repeated the process to another unit. Raizo tried his damndest to copy his aniki… with no success. Yusuke did it easily enough though. Now they have 4 active Kagerous.

L-Elf looked disapprovingly at Raizo. "Hrmmm…" Then he looked at the other 4 successful pilots. "Training starts now. Suit up and get ready to leave in 10!" He looked at Raizo. "And you… you stay until you learn how to activate your own Kagerou."

"Aww…" Raizo moaned.

L-Elf turned to A-Drei. "A-Drei… about the Dorssian prisoners-"

"I'll take care of it."

**0000000**

Down in the Potemkin…

A-Drei stood in front of the Dorssian prisoners. "You've seen the speech?"

Everyone nodded.

"…what if I tell you that wasn't Amadeus speaking. But another one of those Magius of the council?"

Everyone gasped.

"What if I tell you that these monsters had been responsible for all the horrors that our country had suffered? What if I tell you that all the blood of our people… were in their hands!?"

The Dorssian's shock was quickly followed with anger.

"I ask you now, Dorssian. If these monsters had ruled our country to ruin from the shadows… if they had laughed and feasted upon the souls and minds of our people… I ask you… what. Are you. Going. To do. About it!?"

The Dorssians looked at each other, and then they gave a determined look that says it all.

A-Drei nodded and made a phonecall. "Renbokuji Akira… please?"

And the cells are unlocked.

**00000000000000**

**The days that followed were truly busy day for everyone in the module. **

**First days were planning for reconstruction… and training programs.**

06 Hiasobi…

L-Elf looked at 06's form.

"**L-Elf-kun." **It was Pino. **"As I said before… I modeled each and every Valvrave in memory of my friends. This one, I made in honor of Lieselotte's image. Out of all the members of the Covenant of the Seven rainbows… she is my dearest friend." **

"Why did she bring about the Black Plague of the 14th century?"

"**Because out of all of us, Lieselotte is the one who is the most compassionate about the human race."** Pino smiled, though this answer confused L-Elf. **"When we first arrive and we still inhabit animals, it was her who first noticed the human race, and it was her who first assumed a human form in order to live among you… to learn more about you… and from there… she grew to love… everything. Everything there is about humanity. More so than any of us." **

"If she loved humanity why she did all that?" Shoko suddenly just jumped in.

Pino chuckled. **"When you love something… or someone… too much… the hate and anger you feel will be also too much… when they do not live to your expectations… or when they betray and hurt you." **Pino sighed. **"The problem is… Lieselotte was too… hasty. Against our better advice and my stern warnings, she prematurely taught some of her human friends our ways. The thing that humans at the time called witchcraft. I told her it was too early, but she was convinced that the humans are ready. And that was not without reason, humans are good students and readily accept everything she taught them, and she put a strict watch on what she taught them. But they were not wise enough to use them properly. One thing led to another… some of the humans got… impatient, reckless… and greedy." **

L-Elf and Shoko easily get the rest of the picture themselves.

"**These… heretics would go on terrorizing the whole country, giving the word witch a negative connotation in your culture. When their heresies were made known to her, and they went into all out betrayal… they attacked her with the very things she taught them. Killed several of her closest familiars, I kid you not, they were that good… but not good enough to challenge the Grim Witch herself. She had to kill them all with her own hands, taking back all that she had given them."** Pino glumly noted. **"Still wounded body and mind from this betrayal, she came back to her remaining loyal witch coven only to find the humans made them the scapegoats for all the havoc that the traitors had wreaked. They captured them all; burn them at the stakes… that just… pushed her over the edge." **

L-Elf frowned in deep thought, remembering some of the things that had happened, the things Lieselotte had said to him. There was this one time when L-Elf actually managed to get her out of that prison of a manor. And yet… they didn't continue.

"_And where would we go, Michael?"_ Lieselotte mourned. _"In this world… there's no safe haven for us anywhere."_

He finally began to understand what she meant. Lieselotte was traumatized. Deeply traumatized. The punishment that Pino had imposed upon her had made her an outcast among her people, but even in humanity she found no solace, having experienced how easy they could turn against her in a heartbeat. In this world… everyone is her enemy or they will be.

…and he once swore that not even God can save anyone who means to do her harm from his wrath. "If… if you were to meet her again… what would you do to her?"

"**That depends."** Pino shrugged. **"I need to see her first. Right here, right in front of me, in the flesh, and hear what she has to say, THEN and only then… can I make any form of decisions. Now you say she's imprisoned in Dorssia?"**

L-Elf nodded.

"**Then we better live through this and get to Dorssia, no?"**

The officially Ex-Dorssian soldier shrugged and walked away. But his eyes are now more determined than ever.

…which means his students will get their ass kicked.

**0000000**

Out in space…

Four Kagerous had launched out of the Module, each were given stripes matching the signature color of its pilots.

True to its design of being reverse engineered from the original units, the Valvrave pilots have little problem in controlling the mass produced models… "Okay… I'm getting a hang of this… it's like the Valvrave but it's a lot simpler." Not surprisingly, Yusuke, followed swiftly by Haruto, were the first who managed to get a hang of their Kagerous in a jiffy. Except the timid Aina who still have some difficulties.

"Alright… now… where's our instructor?"

And then they found him.

"I'm here."

And he's aboard… a manned Waffe.

Everyone blinked several times.

"Oi… l-Elf…" Saki twitched. "…you're gonna fight us… in a Waffe?" She knew he's good… but he can't be that good.

"Of course not. Today's training is maneuvering. I saw yesterday's data, and your flight patterns are ridiculously straight forward. You literally flew into a bullet instead of dodging them." L-Elf motioned on the field behind him.

He placed beeping markers on a series of asteroids, together they make a track. It looked like a space obstacle course.

"See those markers? Now, notice how some are beeping more than the other? Your goal is to fly following those markers. The first catch is you have to also take note of the frequency of the beeping. You start from the one that beep at the lowest frequency, and then you continue to the marker that beeps a pace higher, and then the next, and the next, and the next."

"First catch?" Saki twitched.

"The second catch is that there are motion sensors on those markers. When you pass a marker, they'll change color into blue." L-Elf demonstrated this by flying his Waffe over a marker, and the red light turned blue. "However, there's also proximity sensor on those markers, they will only activate when you fly within 1000 feet radius of said marker."

"1000 feet!?" Yusuke balked. "That'll put us too close to the ground!"

"That's the idea." L-Elf shrugged. "This is low altitude flight training in space. During space combat, there won't be just asteroids floating around: pieces of warships, small wreckages, drifting shrapnel. And don't forget incoming projectiles, solid and beam weaponry. You have to learn to dodge at the least amount of safety margin."

Aina nodded nervously. "I… I suppose we have to… start slow and then…"

"Ah, the third catch." L-Elf noted. "You'll be chasing me. It's a race. All your Kagerous has been armed with paint guns. The objective is to shoot me 10 times." L-Elf then added. "Those guns are locked right now. In order to open fire, you have to finish one lap. Which means you have to finish 10 laps in order to complete the objective. By the way, 1 lap consist of passing through 10 markers, and I will also try to shoot you 10 times, when that happens, it means you've failed so you better dodge and hit me before that happens."

Haruto still feel something is a bit off. This is too simple… it doesn't seem like L-Elf at all. "What happened if we fail?"

To demonstrate this, L-Elf shoot Haruto's unit 10 times with his paint gun… at which point, something was triggered in the Haruto's helmet breather and the cockpit air conditioning system… something that stinks like a toilet that hasn't been cleaned for a month. It stings! "GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGGHHH!" Haruto choked and hold on to his throat. His nose became runny, his chest tightened and his eyes hurts as they get watery. Soon after, Haruto had difficulty breathing and experiences intense nausea and drooling. As the victim continues to lose control of bodily functions, Haruto finally capped it off with intense vomiting (right inside his helmet), uncontrollable defecation (inside his suit) and urination (also in his suit). Seeing this is zero G, it's a terrible, terrible mess inside Haruto's suit.

All the other three jawdropped. Yusuke flabbergasted. "I… Is that Sarin Gas!? W… When the hell did you booby trapped our Kagerou's respiration system!?"

"Back when you were busy giving the Kagerou the so called custom paint job." L-elf answered nonchalantly. "It's a specialized non lethal dose of anti personnel Dorssian special blend Sarin-composite gas grenade we designed to pacify mob riots. For crowd control"

Everyone paled.

"Will Haruto be okay?" Saki growled in barely contained fury.

"He'll be fine."

"He better be." Saki approached the Waffe menacingly. "Otherwise I would have to kill you."

"Can you?" L-Elf sighed. And then his Waffe dashed into the track, followed swiftly by Saki's Kagerou. The race is on.

The Waffe passed one marker and then it disappeared out of sight. The Kagerou also arrived on the same spot. Saki was wondering on where else should she go. Everywhere there's beeping but she remembered she had to pick one who beeps at higher frequency than this one.

Barely seconds while she ponder this, a paint blast hit her on the head. "WHAT!?"

"You take too long to decide your course, Rukino Saki!" In the time it took for Saki to decide her track, L-Elf had finished a lap and unlocked one shot.

"Why you lit'l-!" However, in a span of five minutes, Saki could barely passed 4 markers, L-Elf had landed 8 more shots, and now he almost finished his final lap, and one final shot. Which he did.

"BLAAAAAAARGGHH!" and so, Saki also suffered the same fate as Haruto, and her helmet was stuffed with the contents of her meal from three directions.

L-elf shook his head. And then he turned to the remaining vict-trainees. "Next."

Yusuke and Aina paled.

Being Novus Magius with higher than normal immunity system meaning the Sarin will not do any lasting damage…

But needless to say, apart from the damage to their dignity and their suit, everyone will be spending some time in the shower that day.

**0000000**

**And so the days wear on…**

05: Hiuchiba…

"**Look here? What do you see?"** Pino pointed at 05's joints.

"Wow… I've never seen a joint that develop so much wear and tear is such a short time."

"The corrosion happened primarily on the joints that controls the Clear Fossil shield…"

"Why?"

"**Simple. 05 are being controlled by one pilot with two minds. Sakurai Aina controls the shield, Inuzuka Kyuuma controls the offensive weaponry as well as actual piloting."** Pino smiled. **"The biggest difficulty in controlling 05 is micro-managing between offense and defense. The problem was circumvented when it was being controlled by 2 minds… I would even say it improved it. This allows 05 to react even faster than other Valvraves. Problem is, its frame just can't keep up with this quickened reaction time."**

"What should we do?"

"…**need to change the joints… redesign it from ground up… and that shield, we need to replace it too. It's too one sided." **Pino watched the data from the previous battle, where 05 were attacked from its unprotected rear. She needs to address this one… But first, she entered 05's system, and beheld Inuzuka Kyuuma floating in the cyberspace, watching a video feed. **"Inuzuka-kun? How's your day going?"**

"**Great, considering I'm back being a guy again." **Kyuuma groaned. **"Albeit in cyberspace…"**

"**Take heart, Inuzuka-kun! We checked your body and we found that, against all odds, it is recovering! The runes that Aina-chan had absorbed helped!"**

"**Yeah, yeah. Sure, sure."** Kyuuma grumbled again. It doesn't take a genius to know that he's in bad mood.

"**Something vexes you?" **Pino tilted her head.

"**It's just…"** Kyuuma grumbled as he showed the reason of his frustration. **"…I'm watching my girl getting her ass kicked."**

**0000000**

"Remember everyone." L-Elf explained through the com during one of the flight sessions, dodging Haruto's shots. "In space, there's no gravity. There's no up and down. You may think you're flying horizontally, but you are vertical everywhere you look. The most important point is to keep focus on where you are, and where do you want to go."

Everyone is improving. At least, that's what L-Elf can safely say. They're not combat ready yet. But they are getting better.

At first, none of them managed a single shot, as expected. They all had to try a round, getting beat, take a shower, and then come back to get shot down again in a vicious cycle. Like this, coupled with theoretical studies in-between, they can have 4 practiced sessions a day – with very little sleep and barely enough time to eat, part of the training, L-Elf said.

"The Magius will bombard you 24/7, given the amount of resources they command." L-Elf explained in one of their theory's class. "They will try to deprive you from rest. A battle with the Magius army can last for days. You need to keep performing at 100% no matter how many days you go by without sleep."

Fortunately, he's in no problem of running out of Sarin Gas. Now it's just the matter if they'll run out of patience of being drowned of their own vomit, feces and urine inside their suit time and again.

"There isn't just one way to get through a lap you know." L-Elf stated. "There are multiple routes you can take, provided you stick with the rule. You need to choose the one route most efficient." L-Elf addressed the vomit covered pilots.

Their hatred of him, and the burning desire to shoot him 10 times so as to see him drowning in his own bile provided a nice incentive. And so they improved. By the end of the first week, they can now shoot him at least 2 or 3 times before he butchered them flat, with Tokishima Haruto ranked at the top with 3 shots in. Saki and Yusuke tied with 1 or 2…

"You need to keep track of your ammo. When you are down to 5% of existing ammo, you already made preparations to reload. Reload only takes 2 milliseconds. That's not much, but in intense combat, that's long enough time to get yourself shot!"

But there's one pilot tha t, instead of having her patience tested, actually tested L-Elf's patience.

Aina fidgeted nervously with her fingers trembling on the controllers.

"_Sakurai-san! Take it easy! Gently, gently, you can do it!" _Saki gently gave the shy girl an encouragement over the com.

Yusuke chuckled. _"I thought you should be able to do this? You pilot 05!"_

"Inuzuka-senpai controlled it. His mind! Not mine! Kyaaa!" The blue stripped Kagerou collided with a small asteroid. And it just so happen, L-Elf finished a lap, and shot her for the tenth time… again.

0 shots from Aina… again.

Out of all pilots, Sakurai Aina was the only one that never landed a shot. But it's not because of she never finished a lap… really…

Saki and Aina took their nth shower. Saki was fuming in anger. She finally managed three shots today, but L-Elf blasted her **11** times. Why the extra shot? Just for the sheer heck of it, he said. Stress relief, he said. Yeah right. Like chasing him wasn't stress enough for them.

He never makes it easy. He vector thrusting his Waffe like a maniac, twisting and turning, makes aiming a hellish job. Machine performance wise, Kagerous winning. But L-Elf's skill as a super soldier more than makes up his unit's deficiency.

Aina however, was down. Really down. Her performance was the worst out of all Valvrave pilots. Even Yusuke managed a shot or two!

"Take it easy, Aina-chan." Saki gave her some encouragement. "Everyone take things at their pace. You'll get better soon."

Aina smiled weakly.

Moments later, the two girls walked out of the shower, draped in towels. But then, as they reached the locker room, Saki and Aina found, to their shock and Saki's anger, L-Elf was waiting for them, sitting on a bench.

"L-Elf! This is the girl's locker!" Saki growled.

L-Elf hardly cared. He took out his phone and opened a screen depicting the scores of the Valvrave Pilots. "Sakurai Aina."

Aina winced.

"Accuracy: D. CQC: E. Maneuvering Capabilities: B. Defensive capability: A. Offensive skills: E. Crisis Management: C. Piloting skill: A. Combat Readiness: D." Aina and Saki looked at each other, not sure if Aina's score was good or bad. L-Elf continued to the most distinctive point: "Spatial Awareness… AAA."

Saki blinked. "…what was that one?"

"Spatial Awareness." L-Elf noted simply. "Basically, it measures her awareness of her surroundings without her actually seeing it. And she scored the highest out of all of you. And her flight records show it. Out of all the pilots… she crashed less. All her flights were accurate and near perfect in staying within the 1000 feet parameter. What's more… every time I shot her down, I know… I never caught her off guard." L-Elf get to the point. "Which means, Sakurai Aina, you know the attack was coming. You know where it comes from; you know when it comes from; and the timing of your reaction is perfect. And yet you scored rock bottom. Do you know what's wrong with you?"

Aina nervously shook her head.

"Killer instincts. You lack the guts to pull the trigger. You timed your reaction perfectly, you had the shot, but you didn't take it. Spatial awareness and perfect reaction time is useless without the will to act upon it."

Saki growled in anger. "Now wait a minute!" Saki growled. "Are you asking Aina to be a killer!?"

"We're waging a war, Rukino Saki. A soldier that cannot kill is useless in a battle." L-Elf stated simply.

"She's not a soldier!"

"Then unit 05 is wasted on her." L-Elf coldly stated much to Saki's further fury. "If I recall, Tokishima Haruto even sacrificed himself to feed her. If she cannot compensate for the amount she was given, then she's just deadweight that we can't afford."

Saki was a breath away from jumping and tearing L-Elf a new one, but Aina, whose eyes were very close to crying, held her back. "I… I understand… I… I'll try to be… more aggressive." She stuttered.

"See that you do." L-Elf stood up. "As I recall, you have more reason to do this than most."

And their instructor left, leaving a very angry Saki comforting a depressed and dejected Aina.

**0000000**

**And it's not just the Valvraves…**

"**We're gonna modify the Potemkin, enhance it with Valvrave tech."** Pino stated to the grumpy and stoic Dorssians. Yes, they'll need the Dorssian prisoners help to modify such a huge ship. They've spent the last 2 weeks gathering all sorts of Valvarve Techs that they can salvage from the wreckages of the captured Magius ships. Now they're gonna put them to good use. **"Any problem?"**

"Yeah. I got one." One of the Dorssian grumbled darkly. "Why should we listen to you when we're here to kill you?"

Pino was somewhat startled, though she quickly chuckled. **"Oh dear." **Pino looked at A-Drei, asking for some help.

A-Drei didn't say anything, but he glared back at Pino, as if telling her that she had to deal with this herself.

Pino nodded. **"…ri~ight." **Pino chuckled. **"So~o… that's what you lot are here for? To kill us?" **

Their silence answered.

"**You know, you guys aren't very bright, are you?" **Pino chuckled.

Understandably, it pissed them off to no end.

"**If you want to kill someone exponentially stronger than you, the first thing you can do is keep quiet about it first. You don't walk right in front of his face and says: I'll kill you… like that. I mean come on! For cryin' out loud, that's common sense! And here I thought you Dorssians are smarter than this!"**

And now their red angry face is mixed with some healthy dose of embarrassment.

"We don't need your help to fight those monsters you damn monster queen!"

"**Says the guy who just lost their country in a day to these monsters."** Pino calmly stated. **"Look. You hate us because you deemed us responsible for the death of many of your people. Fine. I'll admit to that. I left behind some of my ministers in hope they'll aid humanity to reach a prosperous life, instead all they spread are misery and death." **Pino's glare gloomed to a menacing dark look. **"But do you think it's all my people's fault? Do you have any idea how many Magius your ancestors had killed? Many of them are younglings mind you. Children of my people, whom your predecessors had slaughtered, if only to vent their frustration of being unable to deal any damage whatsoever to the older, more powerful elder Magius." **

The Dorssian winced.

"**But… hey… what use is there for me to take revenge on you now? And what's the point anyway? You weren't born then. Or are you saying you lot have a time machine to allow you to go back in time and did all the killing?"**

"Oi! Don't go sidestepping the problem!"

"**Quite right, quite right." **Pino chuckled. **"So let's all stop being emotional and state the facts: your country is being taken over by aliens. And you guys are completely outmatched. Forget your pride, there's nothing you can do with just… 30 of you or so." **

"One Dorssian soldier can slaughter an army ten times our number! With 30 of us we can-"

As if on cue, a completely out of breath Ryuuji came barging in. "OI! EVERYONE! TURN ON THE TV!"

"?"

Ryuuji quickly reiterated. "It's been two weeks after that speech, and I was wondering what the Arus was up to. Guess what? They intend to launch a full scale attack at one of Dorssian Magius' installation. Jeffry stated it to be the HQ of the Council itself."

"What makes them bold enough to do something that stupid?" A-Drei gawked.

Pino quickly opened up a giant holographic screen before her. The news reporter is there, reporting a life broadcast on Earth.

**00000000000000**

"_-it is a single largest armada of Arus fleet and, if you can believe it, Dorssian forces. Apparently, Arus fleet had decided to join up with a large group of dissident Dorssian forces who reject the rule of the Fuhrer and the Council, to resist the Dorssian Magius Alliance. The President of Arus, Jeffry Anderson had stated that he refused to support this Alliance and call upon many other nations to rise up and fight. 30 nations had signed up the petition to resist the Dorssian Magius alliance. And now the president are preparing to give a sending of speech for a campaign to resist the Dorssian Magius."_

The audience aboard the Module did saw that the news reporter weren't kidding. Hundreds of Carriers joined with dozens of Walkit, with tens of thousands of Splicers and thousands of Waffe, dozens of Ideals flying allover the sky. And unless the Dorssian were hallucinating, they also saw no less than 20 Ideal Blume in the mix. The pride of their ground forces. That's a huge force that would give even the largest Dorsian army something to be afraid of.

And there on the podium, Jeffry stood ready to give his speech.

He barely uttered the first syllable… when suddenly…

In a loud thunderous boom, a massive barrage of green beam of light tore through the clouds and rain down upon the fleet. Within seconds, ¾ of the assembled fleet were vaporized by the barrage of Heavy Rune Cannon coming from the carriers stationed above. Hundreds and thousands of Mag Waffes literally swarmed the sky, blotting the sun, raining down a shower of billions and billions of hard light projectiles that instantly wiped out the ground forces and other smaller units that escape destruction from the Rune Cannon. Said hard light projectiles pierced through normal Waffe shield plate like hot knife through butter. Two Kirshcbaum descended from one of 20 Mag Carriers and lay waste to what's left of the assembled fleet.

The last feed of the Arus president was of him being carried away by his security to the safety of a nearby Presidential Carrier and carried off. The other leaders of the world who had assembled there were butchered by three Mag Waffes that smashed right into the hall and start raining hell. The Presidential Carrier barely got away, losing its entire escort in the process.

The whole assembled fleet, and all the leaders of the country who opposed the Alliance were wiped out in less than 5 minutes.

And then the feed was cut off when a Waffe opened fire at the reporter's direction.

**00000000000000**

The Audience fell silent upon seeing that overwhelming firepower displayed by the Dorssia Magius alliance in that asymmetrical massacre. Suddenly everyone realized they've made some very powerful enemy. 

The Dorssians, in particular, suddenly looked like they just got the much needed slap in the face of a wakeup call: They are seriously, hilariously, outgunned. They glumly turned around to Pino, who gave them all a stern look.

"**Look. Whether you like or not, you need help. That's a fact. And here I am, freely offering you mine. And let's not forget… seeing we're going to war against my own people… I'm practically offering you some help to kill even more of my own people. So please understand this is not an offer I made lightly." **

The Dorssians looked at each other. "Enemy of our enemy is our friend… huh?"

Pino nodded.

They finally nodded. "What do you need of us?"

**0000000**

**After the broadcast of that disastrous battle, a new fervor rapidly spread throughout the module. Everyone now work around the clock to be ready for the coming of such overwhelmingly powerful opponent.**

04: Hinowa - Carmilla…

"My only complaint… is that… isn't she a bit too fragile? I know she's the fastest, and she's supposed to dodge instead of block but… still…" Saki moaned.

"**Well… hate to say it, but I didn't design this thing for head on combat. Attlach, my consort, prefers high speed combat. We increased 04's speed, anyway we can. More thruster, minimal weight, she may not look like it but Hinowa's armor is practically paper thin."**

"Okay, fine. You designed it in preference to your boyfriend… I can live with that." Saki scratched her head. "But can't you do something about the weapons? The Spindle Knuckles are the best… but when I used both of them… I only got variable vulcans and fold sickle and some hard light wave to defend myself… which is another way of saying I'm as good as naked. See what I mean?"

"**Point taken, Saki-chan."** Pino nodded. **"Alright boys and girls, listen up! We're gonna strip her naked, add some layers of armor."**

"Won't that make her heavier? And slower?" Saki loved Carmilla's speed, saved her, and her loved one's skin, more times than she can count. "I don't need extra armor if it's going to cost me speed."

"**I know it will be slower."** Pino nodded. **"Which is why we'll be adding extra propulsion boosters to maintain weight to speed ratio. She'll be rougher to control though."**

"I can handle rough." Saki smirked. She handled worse.

For example…

Chasing after the Waffe, Saki had learnt to conserve her shot and not just fire away blind. She also learnt to do more laps than necessary in order to save more ammo. In fact, she had completed 15 laps, and had used 7 shots, 4 of it had missed. For now though, the point is she need to keep L-Elf's Waffe right in front of her nose, not letting it out of sight. "I got you now, you stupid stone faced Dorssian!" 3 shots were taken, only 1 miss. A new record of 5 shots.

An achievement that L-Elf, inside his Waffe, calmly took note of. "Rukino Saki. Out of all pilots, she's the one who seem to be quite… persistent." For one thing, she never gives up. And she backed it up with her increasing parameter. She started as a girl barely beneath his notice, with the overall ranking of C and even D minus. But now she had developed a rather respectable statistic of overall A and B plus… being the second best, right behind Haruto. No matter how crazy he maneuver his waffe, Saki managed to keep sticking to his tail like paint, following him wherever he goes. "Okay… time to teach her another trick…"

The Waffe flew past a pair of asteroids and Saki sped up… thinking she'll make it… But no. She didn't. Midway, the Kagerou's heat gauge gave up on her and the boosters instantly shut down. Her green Kagerou moved on momentum and she fell right in between the two asteroids. "Oh shi~" the two asteroids collided and sandwiched her unit, pinning her down. It didn't scratch her… but her unit is now smack dab in-between two rocks.

"Rukino Saki…" A triumphant L-Elf floated right in front of the trapped Kagerou. Saki knew what's coming and braced herself.

"Remember: always mind your surroundings." And L-Elf made a target practice out of the trapped Kagerou, shooting her full of blots.

And while Saki was drowning in her vomit, again, L-Elf rubbed his chin, thinking on today's event. Like the Original Units, the mass production model is also subject to the overheating problem. They really need to address that…

**0000000**

03: Hikaminari…

"Even if the heat gauge isn't a limiter purposefully built into the Valvraves, Earth does not possess any other element that can tolerate the heat coming from Rune Saturation." The Valvrave mechanic reported when Yusuke asked about the heat problem of the Valvraves. "The only way we can extend the Valvraves operational time is by transferring that heat somewhere else."

"That's why, in tandem with VVV project, we also worked with a project called the Familiar project." Kibukawa quickly added.

"Familiar?"

"Basically, it's a support mech used to further increase the Valvraves' performance and their operational time, as well as giving them additional features. There, see?" The mechanic pointed at the multitudes of raven like drones being arrayed close to the other incomplete Kagerous.

"What about that liquid we found on the Magius battleship? Is there no way we can incorporate that into the Valvrave?"

"Actually, there are some problems. That liquid… we don't know how to make more of that thing… So we only have limited amount of it. But the second problem is when we tried that on a Kagerou…" The mechanic pointed at a misshapen iceberg the size of a Kagerou. "We're still trying to chip it out. At normal room temperature that thing is freezing cold! Of course, Kagerous are not like Valvraves, who generate significantly higher heat, thus they provide the precise balance of hot and cold… but… it still affected its performance, slowing them down. Really, that liquid is more suitable to giant warships whose engine heat can completely offset the cold."

Yusuke jaw was hung open in deep thought… "Hey… how bout if we do this… and this… Can it be done?"

The mechanics gathered around Yusuke to see his idea. When he's done reiterating it, everyone was gawking in awe at Yusuke's bright insight. "Yeah… that might be doable! Alright! Let's do it!"

And while the other mechanics are beginning to put Yusuke's idea into practice, the other mechanics are tinkering with unit 03… and they're still having a hard time believing what Yusuke has done with it.

"The craziest part is… we never even designed this thing to be used for field repairs! Really!" The Jior soldier whistled. "That Yusuke kid is a genius pilot! And an even better engineer!"

"Regardless, we need 03's extreme firepower. Is there no way you can improve its role as battlefield mechanic but maintain its ability for heavy support?" L-Elf asked.

"**Hrmm…" **Pino studied the combat data feeds where Yusuke used 03 Hikaminari's Armstrong arms to fix 04 Hinowa's on the spot. And then she watched how, when Raizo was in control, 03 Reverse was more of the aggressive sort. **"You know what? I watched an earth movie some time ago… about this guy in a suit of armor. I think I know a way to improve both sides of the coin."** Pino smirked as she looked around for some inspiration… until she saw something in a wreckage of the module outside. **"I'll need to work on the designs first. In the mean time, you can start with making some extra space in the cockpit; remember Hikaminari now has two pilots."**

And speaking of the second pilot…

"YOSHAAAAAAAAAAA!" Raizo roared in triumph. A yellow lightning stripped Kagerou smugly walked towards L-Elf showing how the pilot managed to, at last, generate enough runes to power a Kagerou. "What do you think of me now!?"

"It took you 3 weeks. Do you have any idea how far you fell behind from the other pilots in their training?" L-Elf was unfazed even when a giant machine is staring down at him.

"Training! Smraining! I'll catch up with the lot in a jiffy!"

10 minutes later…

"Congratulations… Sakurai Aina. You are no longer at the bottom rank." L-Elf calmly concluded, as he descended from his spotless waffe, standing by next to Raizo's Kagerou… which… inexplicably has been splattered top to bottom in paint.

Yusuke saw the messed up state of the Kagerou. "What… happened?"

"He blew up his own ammunition cartridge." L-Elf stated calmly as he took a bite of… Shoko's muck (because there's no other food nearby). "I didn't even let out one shot…"

"He blew it up? How the hell did he blew it up?"

L-Elf felt it's just too much hassle to answer; he looked at the scoreboard in his phone. "Where are Tokishima Haruto and Rukino Saki?"

"T-They're in the showers. A-Again."

"Hmm."

Meanwhile, as expected, Raizo was drowning with vomit, excrements, urine and other stuff inside his suit…

**0000000**

Until a few minutes ago… Rukino Saki was walking blind. She was given the most thorough beating L-Elf had ever given her. She managed 7 shots. 1 shot shy of Haruto's 8. They were given 20 shots respectively for their trouble. Which means they get double dose of that stupid sarin gas. Double case of… well… headache, vomit, defecation etc, etc… it completely filled her vision with mucks that was too disgusting to be described. She could barely see, and she had to grope her way into the shower room.

Once inside, she didn't bother checking, and she took off everything as soon as she felt a warm splash of water from above. She instantly stripped herself naked in a heartbeat. That was when she realized… she entered the wrong room.

As soon as the last bit of bile was washed out of her face, she came face to face… with a gaping and furiously blushing Haruto, also stark naked. "H… HARUTO!?" She instinctively covered her modesty with her arms, blushing furiously. "Wh… What are you doing in the girl's shower room!?"

"I… I… Saki… this is the boys' shower room!" Haruto stated, blushing furiously.

"Eh!?" Saki looked around… and suddenly, she realized Haruto was right. She's in the wrong room. She's in the boys. "Ah… oops?" She blushed furiously as she looked at Haruto… seeing his eyes went wide, and his mouth went open in aghast.

Saki looked at Haruto and chuckled seductively. "Come on now… you've seen my body many times already! How come you're still embarrassed?" To make her point, Saki calmly opened up her arms, revealing her naked body in all its glory.

The sight made Haruto grew even more entranced. His mouth opened up and down, saliva trickling between his teeth, his breathing grew heavy and elaborate, and his eyes grew hungrier…

Saki realized something was off with Haruto, but she didn't move. "Haruto…?"

Soon, Haruto closed their distance and is right in front of Saki, and their eyes were locked with each other. Saki didn't run, her breathing also grew heavy in anticipation. Their bodies touched, and their faces are closing in. Their fingers clasped and their trembling lips were but millimeters apart, their tongues stretched out…

"Tokishima Haruto?"

L-Elf's call from outside HAD to ruin everything.

The now sane Haruto quickly rushed out, leaving Saki hanging back in the showers. "Yes?" A flustered Haruto walked out of the showers, wearing only his towels.

L-Elf took one second to understand the sight before him… and then he calmly stated. "You and Rukino Saki are to report tomorrow morning. Exam at 6 AM."

Haruto blinked several times. "Exam?"

"It's been 3 weeks. You and Saki have the highest score out of all Valvrave Pilots, being able to hit me more than 5 times." L-Elf reiterated. "And that exam is the checkpoint to the next level… or not. Be ready."

"O-Okay." Haruto nodded.

L-Elf thought again for a minute… "And remember to pass it on to Rukino Saki as well."

"Will do."

And then L-Elf leaves without another word.

Haruto sighed and walked back into the shower… where a very angry Saki is sitting on the floor. "…Errmm… L-Elf said…"

"I know, I know." Saki growled. The mood was gone and ruined. "I hope the exam is a duel with him using real weapons! I'm gonna fill that guy full of hard light ammunition!"

"Oh no you don't."

**0000000**

02: Tekka…

That evening…

The unit 02 was incomplete since the beginning of the VVV project because for some reason, Pino refused to give so much as a blueprint. Hence, 02 remained a broken Valvrave. But today… Pino came with a surprising decision to complete 02.

"**The reason I didn't touch 02… was because… 02 was built by and for my late older brother, Prue." **Pino stated. **"When I landed here, my Valvrave, unit 00, suffered a catastrophic damage to its atmospheric shielding. The heat from the friction to your planet's atmosphere would've roasted me… but my brother flew Tekka right in front of me, and took the heat in my stead. I didn't touch it then because I want to keep it as is, in memory of him." **Pino mourned.

Ryuuji frowned. "Then maybe we shouldn't touch it. This is the only memento you have left of your brother."

"**Its rave engine is still intact and unblemished. We cannot afford sentimentality in such crisis, Ryuuji."** Pino shook her head. **"Our children, the Novus Magius will need all the edge they can get." **

**00000000000000**

Meanwhile… somewhere Dorssia…

Cain had just returned from another meeting with the council. He entered his office and turned the lights on… surprisingly, the light remained off. He quickly knew who the culprit is. "Prue. I can explain-"

Before he can say anything, an electric cable lashed out of the darkness and whipped Cain off his feet. Multiple cables, with electricity coursing through them, quickly followed suit and punctured through the floor before whipping Cain several times mercilessly. It wasn't long until some of them coiled around his limbs and pulled him up and then strapped the battered Magius Colonel to the wall. Prue appeared on the screen as angry as hell.

"Prue… Prince Prue… wait… I can explain-"

"**EXPLAIN!?" **Prue exploded. **"EXPLAIN WHY YOU JUST SIT DOWN ON YOUR LAURELS WHILE THOSE TRAITORS TRIED TO KILL OUR QUEEN! EXPLAIN WHY YOU JUST KEEP YOUR SILENCE WHILE THE COUNCIL DENOUNCED MY SISTER AND CALLED HER INSANE!"**

"**It's… no use… Prue…" **Attlach replied, choking as the cables soiled around his throat. **"The members of the council had been corrupted by the greed of the humans they inhabit. The problem is… corrupt and traitors they are… they hold the fate of our people on this planet. If I denounce them right then and there… a civil war like nothing ever seen before will erupt among us… and with it, the last of our people will die. I don't think your sister and you would want that to happen now, or would you?"**

Prue's anger abated slightly and he relaxed the cables, allowing Attlach free. **"But they'll still try to kill her nonetheless."**

"**I know."** Attlach nodded. **"But there's still a chance. Pino had yet to take on a body. She's still pure. She's exactly the way our people remember her to be. As long as she lived and inviolate, our people will still be drawn towards her. And then there's the fact that she's the last of the Matriarchs. Yes, the traitors at the council would want her dead. But there's still hope. Their denouncement of the Queen may have won them our people's support, but that's a temporary victory. When our people see that their denouncements are false… they will unite under her once again and together we will overthrow those traitors." **

"**They silence Lieselotte easily enough, and even with her geass, she's still one of the most powerful Magius I've ever known." **Prue grunted. **"What makes you think they won't be able to silence you?"**

Attlach/Cain chuckled. **"I always told Lieselotte that her compassion for these human apes will be her downfall. I held no love for the humans, you know that, Prue. I hate them, in fact. This disgusting physical flesh and blood form." **Attlach made a disgusted look at Cain's physique. **"This hate is what makes the councilor trust me enough… he gave me a special assignment to assassinate Pino."**

Prue glared at Attlach.

"**I pretend to accept of course. They intend to attack Module 77 and wipe the Novus Magius from the face of the earth." **Attlach explained. **"I want you to come with me. Together, we can rescue your sister, and once again, our people will be united as a single race! The Magius race!" **

Prue calmed down considerably, but he made one last warning. **"Then I'll hold you to your word, Spider Queen. But if I find out that in the end your claim is nothing but falsehood… then you'll learn… that even when I've lost my ability to materialize in the physical world, I can still teach you something that is even worse than death." **

"**I shall not fail you, Wolf Knight."**

**00000000000000**

The next day…

01 Hito…

And while the modifications and construction of the first 5 Valvraves was quite easy (so to speak) and smoothly progressing…

Most of the crew hit a road-bump when it comes to 01.

"The problem is… we don't fully understand how she works either." One of the Jior Hangar man admitted. "We didn't build her per se… we fixed her."

"What the hell is the difference?" A Dorssian engineer grunted.

"01 is essentially a redesigned Valvrave 00." Ryuuji explained. "She's the first of the Valvrave. The vessel which Pino used to land here on this planet. Unlike the other Valvraves which only use pieces of Valvrave 00, Valvrave 01 was almost completely comprised of Alien technology which… we seriously couldn't even hope to understand. That's why it has mode 666 and a significantly higher heat tolerance."

Shoko asked an innocent question. "Then… why change the designation from 00 to 01? Why not keep it that way?"

"**Because when I gave them the blueprint, that was a blueprint for significantly modifying its shape, and it was quite thorough, hence the designation change." **Pino happily answered that utterly useless question as she popped out of the cockpit. **"When I first landed, I spent a week marathoning Samurai Fiction and Justice Samurai and after that I just wanted my Valvrave to look like a samurai, so."**

Only Shoko nodded in complete understanding. "Ho, ho!"

The rest… jawdrops all around, not understanding that nonsensical reason… not one bit.

"**As it stands though…"** Pino sighed. **"I don't see many ways we can improve 01's performance. Its heat capacity was already high from the beginning… purposefully so. There's the 666 mode remember? Heat is its main weapon. However, as I mentioned before, heat in Valvrave denotes Rune saturation level. The hotter it gets, the more runes being used up. We need to find a way to minimize 01's use of mode 666. We need to improve its weapons to cope with that fact. The Vurutoga weapon set isn't gonna cut it anymore. We'll have to forge new katanas. Better ones."**

"Better ones?" Ryuuji laughed nervously. "I don't think we can find metal stronger than Clear Fossil… The edges of the Z-Edges were made of pure no alloy Clear Fossil! That can cut through diamond like it was paper!"

"**A katana isn't just the matter of the material; it's also its making, the tampering, the perfect balance of hot and cold. It has to be tough in order to cut, but pliant enough so that it won't break. A perfect balance between solid and liquid state. Then, and only then, can we make a good katana." **Pino sternly noted, much to the awe and surprise of everyone.

"Wow, Queen Pino… we have no idea that you have… such knowledge in sword making! You almost sound like an authentic Japanese Swordsmith!" Ryuuji smiled in admiration.

"**Why thank you. Back in the late 12****th**** century, I spent some time in Japan and pose as an apprentice by the name of Muramasa and studied intensely under a Japanese swordsmith. He taught me everything there's to know in forging a good katana." **

Ryuuji and Shoko blinked remembering an old legend. 'Wait… Pino is **Muramasa**?' "Uhh… who is that swordsmith?"

"**I think his name is… Masamune?"**

Everyone jawdropped and some Japanese scientist even dropped their pads in sheer shock.

The Devil Swordsmith Muramasa tilted her head in her usual innocent bubbly headed style.

"…**what?"**

**0000000**

Saki and Haruto finally arrived at the hangar… but to their surprise… there's another pair of pilots in there, as well as another pair of Kagerous, but ones that they weren't familiar of.

One has a blue hair, with a long earring hanging on his left ear. The other was a shy looking girl, with a beautiful feature, with long wavy pink hair. Both wear a pilot suit identical with Haruto and Saki, but unlike Haruto and Saki's customized color, both wear a generic silver colored suit.

"You are…"

"Jin Hinomoto." The blue haired boy smirked.

Saki looked questioningly at the pink haired girl, who timidly averted her gaze before she stuttered. "N-Nao Ota." She peeped.

Haruto looked at L-Elf questioningly. "L-Elf? Who are they?"

L-Elf was unfazed. "They are either your backup… or your replacements."

"Excuse me?" Saki growled.

Haruto quickly caught on. "You trained him too. You trained two teams?"

That comment earned Haruto a glare from Jin.

"Some of us can do more than one thing at a time. I don't put all my eggs on one basket, Tokishima Haruto." L-Elf explained calmly. "In case you fail to produce results, or you die before we accomplish our goal, I've prepared backup pilots to replace you, when it became necessary."

"And you think Haruto needs replacement!?" Saki growled. "I thought you said the two of us scored highest!"

"Don't get me wrong. Other than backups, we have 20 Kagerous that will be combat ready soon. All of them are in need of pilots. Good ones. And it just so happens, Jin Hinomoto and Nao Ota are two of Kagerou's best pilots among the second team I've trained. Their scores rival yours, quite in fact."

"While you two lovebirds having fun with your all-powerful Valvraves, we've been working our asses off on the Kagerous, Tokishima Haruto-sama!" Jin smugly noted.

Haruto couldn't care less of his insults. He eyed Jin suspiciously. "…you're not a Magius?"

"You got a problem with that, Mr. Chosen Magius sir?"

"Hey, what's your problem!?" Saki growled as she took a few step forward but Haruto stopped her, and he shook his head.

"J-Jin! That's enough, will you?" Nao peeped.

"Hmph!" Jin grunted.

Haruto looked at L-Elf. "If he's not a Magius, how did you power the Kagerous?"

"We used the synthetic runes from the Mag Walkits. They work just fine." L-Elf shrugged.

Haruto sighed. "So… what do you want us to do again?"

"Like I said. It's an exam. For all of you." L-Elf stated. "And it's a competition. The two of you will be fighting one another. Same rule. Same principle. You need to pass through markers in order to unlock a shot. Those who shot the enemy enough times wins." L-Elf then added. "And one more thing…"

All four pilots looked at L-Elf.

"The winner will earn **the right to pilot the Valvraves**."

"What!?" All four pilots gasped.

**00000000000000**

**00000000000000**

**00000000000000**

**Anybody can tell me about the Valvrave Undertaker novel? Its story, the characters (I know Jin Hinomoto and Nao Ota – but I don't know about the characters), what's it all about, time setting, etc2 anybody doing any scanlations about it and stuff?**

**And is there anyone who made a details about the Arus fleet ships and weaponry? **


	6. The Future Happened

**A second Lemon chapter for a valentine day update. Enjoy. **

**00000000000000**

This is how L-Elf started that day.

"So here's how it's going to be." L-Elf started. "The rules are the same. You need to pass 10 markers under 1000 feet roof, in order to unlock a shot from your paint gun. However, there's one difference." He turned to Haruto and Saki, riding the red and green Kagerou. "Tokishima Haruto and Rukino Saki must shoot their target 10 times each. This hasn't changed." And then he turned Jin and Nao aboard their red and blue striped Kagerou. "Jin Hinomoto and Nao Ota however, need only to shoot the opponent 5 times each in order to win."

"WHAT!?" Saki roared in protest. "That's a bit unfair, don't you think!?"

"I ask you, Rukino Saki, of the four you, which ones had become the ultimate lifeforms?"

Saki groaned, unable to counter that reasoning while Haruto merely shrugged. "So… it's a team battle."

"Yes. And we start in… 3… 2… 1…!"

And as soon as the gong sounded, the four Kagerous dashed out into space. Haruto and Saki had done this dozens of times to the point they automatically completed several laps within minutes, collecting several rounds, before they rendezvous on an asteroid. Haruto asked. "How many shots?"

"5. You?"

"6." Haruto sighed. "So… what to do?"

"You tell me. I didn't know what to expect." Saki groaned. "I didn't even know he trained two teams! And what is this talk about replacing you as the pilot of 01!? Pino would disagree!"

"Funny thing is… I don't think Pino would care." Haruto scratched his chin. "Remember, the most important thing for her is that someone will provide her with Runes. I bet she wouldn't care less from whom. And I kinda understand his logic. Outside Valvrave we're still vulnerable."

"Haruto! Let's be serious! If we lose we'll give up the Valvraves!"

"Yeah, yeah." Haruto answered… somewhat half heartedly. "…let's try frontal assault, just to test the waters. We'll sacrifice 1 or 2 shots. Ready?"

"Okay." Saki nodded.

The two Kagerous flew out of hiding and went straight forward. Apparently, the other team also thought the same and attacked. Paint projectiles were exchanged in between the two sides amidst the asteroid field. Jin's Kagerou, a red stripped unit with a wing attachment on its back fired ferociously at Haruto's red and black unit. Out of 4 shots, 1 hit Haruto's leg, and 1 hit his shoulder, and the other two hit an asteroid which Haruto used to take cover. Saki, in her black and green Kagerou fired rapidly at the available target, a blue and white Kagerou with some extra blasters on the shoulder. Nao peeped under the onslaught, and 3 out Saki's four shots came in, two on Nao, 1 on Jin. Nao returned fire blindly in panic, and out of her 3 shots, one lucky hit reached Saki's arm. Likewise, Haruto suddenly jumped out of hiding, zoomed to the opposing team's rear and returned fire 4 times. 1 hit Jin's unit on the back of his shoulder, 2 hit Nao's unit, the last one missed. Jin angrily returned fire twice, but both missed as Haruto used the asteroids around him as shield before he zoomed away back into the cover of asteroid field, followed closely by Saki.

After that first skirmish, the score (as in how many times they were hit): Haruto: 2; Saki: 1, Jin: 2, Nao: 4.

"Oi! Nao! What's this all about!? You got shot 4 times already!?"

"Sorry! Sorry!" The pink haired girl fretted.

Haruto and Saki kept their calm and finished a couple more laps to earn a couple more shots. "Okay… that was… fruitful." Haruto shrugged.

"Haruto, you got shot twice! You do remember the opposing team needs only 5 shots to win right?"

"I know… but that guy Jin… did I wronged him in his past live or something?"

"Hm?"

"As soon as we start fighting, he went straight at me. Quite viciously too. He seems to be having a grudge on me or something."

"You remember ever do anything that piss him off?"

"I didn't even know him until today." Haruto sighed. "What about the other one?"

"That Nao Girl? I'm not sure we should be worrying about her. We shot her 4 times remember?"

"Ah… but L-Elf said these two matched our scores, and I doubt he trained them any less harsh just because they're still human." Haruto sighed. "Don't let your guard down."

Saki nodded. "Let's take them out one by one, then."

"Good idea."

Meanwhile the other two opposing Kagerous had also 'reloaded' and prepared their next move. The two red and blue Kagerous flew together amidst the asteroid field, searching for their target. "Where are they?"

Nao fidgeted nervously as she checked and rechecked all of her sensors, searching for the two targets.

However, all the sudden, a single burst of paint gun zoomed towards them, and it barely missed Jin's Kagerou. "What-!?" The blast came from an Asteroid rock above them.

"From there huh!?" Jin roared and dashed towards the asteroid. The Paint Gun also kept firing a couple more shots. Nao felt something was off but followed anyway.

When the two Kagerou units arrived at the target, they were surprised to find instead of a Kagerou, they only found a paint gun on a trip wire. "What?" Jin gasped.

All the sudden, Haruto's Kagerou appeared from another asteroid right behind them and opened fire at the duped team. Jin gasped and received 3 shots before dodging the rest. Nao receive 2 shot but she returned fire almost immediately after. Surprisingly enough, one hit Haruto's Kagerou right on his face. Jin: 5, Nao: 6, Haruto: 3

"Gah!" His camera was momentarily blinded by paint, disorienting the pilot and the unit for some time.

"GOT YOUU!" Jin open fired at the paralyzed Haruto. He managed to score one shot. Jin was about to fire another shot, but Haruto quickly move away, albeit he's flying blind. Haruto: 4. Jin needed only one more shot. But Nao quickly looked at the rifle and at the trip wire. Following the wire, she looked up.

At the same time, said wire tripped gun opened fire again, scoring another hit on the caught off guard Jin, before said rifle was being reeled in by Saki. Nao had already figured out her location and opened fire. When the rifle is returned to her hand, an alarmed Saki dodged a shot to her face. 'What's with her!?' Saki quicly returned fire and scored another hit at Nao, while she returned fire as well. The exchange of shots earned a hit on both. Jin: 6, Saki: 2, Nao: 8.

"Why you!" Jin returned fire. Saki dodged several shots, but one hit her by the shoulder. Saki quickly turned away and took cover in an asteroid. Nevertheless, she gained a newfound caution on Nao. 'That girl…' Saki: 3

**0000000**

L-Elf watched the proceeding of the test with his usual cold and calculating observation. In the mean time, he checked the parameters of the pilots. 'Nao Ota… like Sakurai Aina, she possess a respectable level of spatial awareness at B+, coupled with an A+ caution. Her overly cautious nature made her like a sensor. She works well with Hinomoto Jin, redirecting his vicious attack properly. The only problem is…'

**0000000**

"Kyaaa!" Nao squealed when Saki concentrated her attacks at her. She flew as fast as she could while Saki persistently followed her, making her a primary target. Saki only stopped as soon as she ran out of ammunition. But she did score another shot. Nao: 9.

**0000000**

'She lacked killer instinct… even worse than Sakurai Aina…' L-Elf shook his head. 'And then there's Hinomoto Jin. He had a respectable parameter, but has tendency to disregard his surroundings when he focus on something. However… in truth, his parameter is far beneath Tokishima Haruto. Tokishima Haruto had absorbed the memories and skills of Dorssian soldiers… made it his own. This makes him possess skill equivalent to a Dorsian elite soldier… but Hinomoto Jin has something Tokishima Haruto does not.'

**0000000**

Jin searched everywhere for his main target. Just one more shot. One more shot and he win!

"Hinomoto-san."

"Hm?" Jin blinked. A com screen with the words voice only appeared, sending Haruto's voice.

"Did I wrong you before or something?"

"Huh?" Jin gaped. "Oi, oi! You're not seriously gonna talk with me right? We're in the middle of a fight here…!"

"I know… but I'd like to know the reason for entering a fight." Haruto added. "Especially because you chase me down so single mindedly…"

"…maa… I got some reasons of my own… but more than anything…"

"?"

"That Dorssian soldier said… if I beat you, I'll get to control that red unit right?"

Haruto twitched. "You want to pilot 01?"

"Why? You mind?"

"You saw the video of what I have become right? A monster that feeds on human. You seriously want to be like that?"

"Well… the thought of becoming a vampire did give some pauses." Jin sighed. "But then after some more thoughts… I say… why the hell not? Being humans are boring anyway."

"Boring huh?" Suddenly, Haruto's tone grew more intense. "I see."

Suddenly, Haruto's unit dashed out of an asteroid, opening fire at Jin's unit several times. Jin was caught off guard and paid for it with a shot hitting his leg. Jin: 7

Jin returned fire, but Haruto dashed to the protection of an asteroid field. Jin quickly moved his crosshairs to the area after the asteroid, expecting his main target to come out. He didn't. Jin quickly returned back to the area before the asteroid, where Haruto's Kagerou spring out from the other side, throwing a loaded paint gun magazine at Jin. Jin instinctively fired at it. At the same time, Haruto timed his shot and fired at the magazine as well.

Paint magazine has no life rounds, but enough pressure, from two paint gunshot simultaneously hitting it hard for example, can still break the high pressure paint canisters, causing a violent explosion when ruptured. The magazine caught a shot from Jin and Haruto before it exploded on Jin's face, literally. Jin's unit was disoriented and his screen was covered in paint, momentarily blinding him. Haruto used this chance to open fire at him. Haruto managed a shot, but he ran out of shots and so he flew away to 'reload'.

"_That paint explosion count as one shot."_ L-Elf announced.Jin: 9

'Holy… what kind of tactic is that?' Jin gritted his teeth. 'Not only that, his moves changed completely…' He grinned. Jin became even more spirited and chased after Haruto. He opened fire several times, but Haruto dodged them all easily. Both only need one shot to win, but Jin knew right away things had gotten more difficult by a few notches. His opponent had finally taken him seriously. "Awrite. This makes beating you more worthwhile!" Pretty soon, he ran out of shots and quickly prioritizes on reloading.

Nao still have a few more shots in her, but she had no time to return fire. Saki kept chasing after her in an almost single minded drive, rivaling Jin. Saki had taken a couple of shots; all of them narrowly missed the target. Said target also returned fire every now and then, but when Nao's in panic, her accuracy went sharply downhill to say the least. As long as Saki pays attention and keep the pressure, she won't get hit by a thing. 'And this girl's score was supposed to rival mine!?' She only has two shots left. She needs to make it count and finish this.

Meanwhile, Haruto and Jin had also reloaded. 4 shots each, and now they're back to frontal engagement. Both crisscross shots with one another, narrowly missing each other by a paper thin margin. Knowing how his opponent is showing his stuff at last, Jin took precaution this time and took defense by hiding behind an asteroid. Haruto looked for his target, turning left and right, but his mind stay calm. 'Where could he hide…' He saw a small patch of asteroid field. He easily surmised Jin's unit hid somewhere in that area, but he's not stupid enough to go into an enemy territory. He grabbed a sizable asteroid, spin it several times and throw it into the field, full force. One rock hit another, its debris spread everywhere, knocking stuff, causing chain reaction, the whole asteroid field is suddenly a mess. Jin realized he can't hide anymore when an asteroid the size of a building headed his way.

He flew out only to be welcomed by a shot from an expectant Haruto. Jin barely dodged the shot and quickly moved away with Haruto hot in pursuit.

**0000000**

L-Elf saw the proceeding of this match and smiled in approval. 'Impressive Tokishima Haruto. You managed to adapt the many strategies and skills you have absorbed to your benefit. Impressive. So this is what happens when you put your mind into it.'

**0000000**

Haruto's chase of Jin inadvertently brought them close to Saki's chase of Nao.

Haruto saw a chance when he saw an asteroid rock. With controlled angle, he shot the asteroid, pushing it to shoot forward, hitting another asteroid along the way, and like a pool-ball game, the said asteroid floated right in front a surprised Jin. "THE HECK!?" Too late, his unit's wing unit smashed against the asteroid, Jin's kagerou spiral out of control, hitting multiple rocks before he crash-landed on a sizable one, suffering massive damage.

Saki kept following Nao relentlessly. Nao noticed Jin is on the verge of defeat, and she went there, bringing Saki with her. She only got one shot left.

Haruto landed right in front of him and aimed his gun at Jin, getting ready to finish it. But before he truly pulls the trigger: "Why… why are you so ready to give up your humanity?"

Jin chuckled. "Oh come on. Another sermon?" Meanwhile, Jin struggled to move his gun at firing position.

"…"

"Okay… that question, I'll ask the same of you. Why did you give up yours?" He succeeded, and now he's just waiting a chance to fire.

"…revenge." Haruto shrugged. "For a childhood friend I thought had died. Now I just want to protect everyone."

Jin jaw dropped. "…that's it?"

"Yeah. That's it." Haruto sighed. "Look. I don't care if boredom is your reason, but seriously? You DON'T want what I've got. And if you insist… then I'll do anything to stop you." Haruto took aim and getting ready to open fire. Suddenly, he was hit by another seizure. Something suddenly nudged him violently from inside his chest. Haruto gasped and panted. Another attack! 'Oh no… not now!' In his struggle to regain control, Haruto's finger couldn't finish pulling the trigger and Jin wondered why the last shot never came and Haruto's gun barrel visibly shakes.

Haruto's growls of pain reached Saki's ears. And that was more than enough to distract her from her persistent chasing of Nao. "Haruto!"

Seeing the distracted enemy, Nao instinctively reacted and aimed her gun at Saki. At the same time, Haruto regained control and noticed Saki was in danger. He turned his gun away from Jin and shot Nao right that instant. Nao's unit was hit by the chest before she can shoot. Nao: 10. The Sarin gas quickly invaded Nao's suit and she quickly squealed and vomited, drowning in her bile.

Suddenly, Haruto also felt the Sarin gas entering his system. He quickly understood why: at the same time he turned his gun away from Jin to shoot at Nao, Jin instinctively pulled the trigger and fired at his chest. Haruto: 5. Haruto quickly succumbed to the gas…

"HOW DARE YOU!" Saki angrily shot all her bullets at the now helpless and sitting ducks Jin's unit. Jin: 10. And his suit was soon filled with his bodily rejects. Saki: 4

Winner: Rukino Saki.

**Chapter 6:**

**The Future happened**

All pilots stood before L-Elf to receive his evaluation. All of them, bar Saki, were still smeared with vomit, feces and urine on the insides of their suit.

First, Saki, the winner. "Rukino Saki, your persistence is good. But fair warning. There's a difference between never giving up, and being stubborn. A good hunter sometimes must know when to give up a prey in pursuit of the larger picture. Exercise caution and always be mindful to your surroundings, and differentiate between bait and prey. Understand?"

Saki nodded.

Then, Nao. "Nao Ota, your cautiousness deserves some merit… but too much caution will result in cowardice. All your parameters went down sharply whenever you panicked. Get your emotions under control, or you will not get far."

Nao bent her head down in sorrow.

And then, Jin. "Hinomoto Jin… like I always said… parameter wise, you are a good soldier… but you have a tendency to let your emotions get in the way. When that happens, your movements became predictable. Rectify that."

"…" Jin nodded, but he seems to have something else in his mind. Obviously this has something to do with Haruto, given the fact he kept eying the pilot restlessly.

Haruto merely waited L-Elf's evaluation of him… but surprisingly, L-Elf actually skipped the evaluation completely and declared: "From here on out, Hinomoto Jin will pilot unit 01."

"WHAT!?" Saki roared in anger. "Like hell he is!"

Jin gasped in shock over L-Elf's decision but say nothing for the moment.

Saki continued her protest. "Haruto lost the match because he was helping me!"

"Before he do that, he had 30 seconds to finish the fight and then helping you." L-Elf glared at Haruto darkly. "Instead you have to waste time spouting useless nonsense."

"…" Haruto frowned.

"Remember what I said to you the first time we met?" L-Elf growled. "Would you cut the yolk from a ham 'n egg breakfast in half, or split your love for a girl in half? Happiness isn't something you divide in half… neither is responsibility."

"…"

"Tokishima Haruto… when I first said whoever won this match will earn the right to pilot the Valvrave, I knew right away your conviction wavered." L-Elf narrowed his eyes darkly. "A part of you wanted someone to take that burden away from you, isn't it? A part of you wanted Jin, who clearly has more desire to pilot Valvrave than you to take over. Or… were you thinking of sharing the burden of being 01's fuel?"

Jin blinked and looked at Haruto in surprise. Haruto didn't say anything, but that was like confirming L-Elf's theory.

L-Elf scoffed. "I took 01 away from you wasn't because you lose. No. Quite in fact, I immensely enjoyed the way you fight during the last moments. What I'm greatly disappointed of, is that it took you that long to unleash everything you got. You could've beaten Jin Hinomoto a lot earlier, with less margin of loss, but no. You have to take your sweet time getting into the mood. How many of your precious friends will die during that time, Tokishima Haruto!?"

Haruto frowned and bent his head down in deep thought.

"That's what you lack. Conviction. I thought if I threaten to take unit 01 from you, you'll gain some backbone. I guess I was wrong. You have to have the luxury of keeping your conscience clean first before you even make a move, right?" L-Elf chided. "Remember this: people die when you can't keep your morality out of the picture. Your enemy doesn't have it."

"I know." For the first time, Haruto replied. He even glared at L-Elf to make his point. "That's why it's so important. It's what separates us from them."

L-Elf twitched. "Have you forgotten-"

"-That I'm not human anymore? Thank you for trying to remind me of that fact at least every hour, L-Elf." Haruto glared back. "But that won't stop me from trying to keep what's left of my humanity for as long as I can."

L-Elf blinked in surprise as he did not expect this much defiance from Haruto of all people. Truly, Tokishima Haruto can be decisive on certain things. "Your conscience won't matter if we don't win this war you started, Tokishima Haruto."

"It matters." Haruto replied. "The **manner** of how we win matters."

The two glared one another at this clash of ideals; the tension was so thick, the other pilots felt like there's a wall enclosing these two opposing forces that they can't get through.

Suddenly…

"Hai, hai! That's enough!" As if on cue, Shoko came in clapping her hands as if breaking a fight between children. Shoko looked straight at L-Elf. "And L-Elf… you're out of the line."

L-Elf frowned. "Last I checked, you authorized me to select the second team. You gave me full control-"

"Backup pilots." Shoko barked. "NOT replacement pilots. You have the right to choose which person will be included in the second team that will pilot the Kagerous. But there's only one person who has control of all Valvraves. Only one has the right to decide who pilots which unit, and that's Haruto. NOT you." Shoko glared at L-Elf. "And speaking of pilots, I just told every pilot, main and backup, that they have a day off today and tomorrow."

"What!?" L-Elf gaped in anger. "You can't-"

"They're burned out, L-elf." Shoko cut him off right then and there. "You've been drilling them hard for three weeks straight. You made them vomit, urinate, and defecate involuntarily 4 times a day, AT least. They barely had time to eat, they barely had time to sleep. If the enemy shows up tomorrow, all we got to fight them would be a bunch of half dead, half asleep pilots!"

L-Elf glared angrily at Shoko, but he knew that Shoko was at least 10 times more stubborn than Haruto at his most obstinate condition. His angry glare didn't even faze her and Shoko even returned one of her own. "I'm not asking, L-Elf. I'm telling you. Give everyone a time off. Now."

And for a second there, L-Elf looked like he was ready to actually slap Shoko in the face… but then; he resolved it by simply stating: "But my assessment remains the same. Tokishima Haruto is not fit to pilot a Valvrave." L-Elf nodded once and then he angrily stormed off.

"We'll be the judge of that." Shoko smirked in triumph and then she looked at Haruto and a smiling Saki. She gave them a V for victory.

"Shoko…" Haruto smiled weakly.

"Get a break, Haruto." She nudged Haruto, releasing a disgusting squishy sound from beneath his now damp pilot suit. "-and for the love of god, get a bath!" She laughed.

Haruto chuckled weakly and walked away.

Saki smiled in gratitude at Shoko. "Thanks, Shoko-san! We needed that."

Shoko smiled. But as Saki also walks away, Shoko quickly added. "Rukino-san…"

"?" Saki looked at Shoko.

"Look after him will you? As you know… he can be quite an idiot some times."

Saki smile faltered slightly… and then it was replaced with an even sweeter and bigger smile. "Yeah. Tell me something I don't know."

**00000000000000**

Akira smiled in satisfaction upon seeing the conclusion of that potentially devastating confrontation at the Kagerou hangar. Shoko really did show that smug L-Elf a thing or two.

Suddenly, she heard knocking from above. She perked and glanced. It was Satomi.

"Akira? Akira? Come out! I brought you some food!"

Akira's eyes narrowed to a glare and she curled into a ball, ignoring his brother's repeated pleas.

"Akira? Akira?" Satomi knocked 06's cockpit hatch time and again. And still she won't answer. Unwilling to give up and desperate to talk with her sister, Satomi kept banging the hatch. "Akira! Akira!"

"What are you doing?"

Satomi's hand stopped mid-swing and he turned around to see A-Drei looking at him curiously from behind him. Satomi's face quickly frowned in anger. "You, stay away from her!"

A-Drei merely shrugged indifferently. "You're her brother. And you're concerned of her. I can understand. I have a sister too. And I worry of her all the time." However, after he discovered the 'truth' about said sister, that relationship is currently under direct reconsideration. "But what's wrong with her, really?"

Satomi has no answer for the man largely responsible for turning his sister into what she is now. Satomi sighed in sorrow and finally said: "Akira. I'll leave the food here. But I'll keep coming back every day, okay, Akira? So don't let anyone in! You hear me?" Satomi left the bag containing Akira's favorite junk food floating near the hatch and he floated away, completely miserable, and passed A-Drei without a word but an angry glare.

A-Drei looked at the departing brother, and then he looked at the sister inside the unit 06.

Takahi, who's been peeking from behind a pillar, frowned.

Akira looked at A-Drei's face looking at her… and out of a whim coming from nowhere in particular; she took a picture of his face just before he turned and left.

Not long after…

Satomi went into the vending machine and grabbed a fruit juice.

"You know… I've heard rumors."

Satomi gasped and turned to see Takahi looking at him as she rested her back on the door frame. "…some few years ago, there was an unprecedented case of government security breach."

**0000000**

Likewise, A-Drei, now completely curious, opened up the Wired Internet and start searching for some data regarding a certain redhead. He found it. "…Arus Secure network was breached by a malicious hacker… is this it?" The article didn't mention who did it. He saw the clipping was 9 years old… which means Akira was only 7 when she did it. 'Of course they wouldn't mention the age… if they did, the humiliation to the government security would be too great.'

**0000000**

"The newspaper didn't say anything, which is odd… but rumor circulates that it was her who did it. Right?" Takahi shrugged. "Curiosity killed the cat, they say. Your sister was digging her own grave, so no need to beat yourself over it, right?"

At this unintentionally callous remark from Takahi, Satomi lost his cool and snapped angrily at her. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU KNOW!?" In his momentary outburst, Satomi squeezed his fruit juice, causing its content to spurt out, shocking Takahi.

Upon seeing Takahi's horrified look, Satomi realized his mistake and regained his calm. Throwing away his fruit juice, he floated. "Sorry." He muttered at Takahi and floated away.

**0000000**

Meanwhile, A-Drei had dug out enough information to get the good grasp of the situation of what really happened. "I see…"

**0000000**

At the same time, he's not the only one who did some digging. Akira ran A-Drei's face through facial recognition scan and browsed the net for a match. She doesn't know why she did it, but she couldn't help but to feel awkward about this newfound curiosity of that one eyed Dorssian soldier. At first, most of the data about him were redacted by authority of the Karstein head of school. 'Karstein… Karstein… now where have I heard that name?' And then she remembered that A-Drei once told her that Karstein is some kind of a high school of Death.

And the only way she can do that is by hacking into Dorssian maximum security network.

By the time she finished her second bag of potato chip, she's already trudging through Dorssian most secure files. "Karstein, Karstein, Karstein… ah! Found you." The first view images she saw were sickening. Children were ordered to open fire at anyone they didn't recognize by face. They had to endure the most inhumane and brutal boot camp, forced them to fight and even kill or else they'll be killed themselves. Children for the love of god! CHILDREN! Kinda explain why L-Elf was such a cold hearted and twisted asshole.

She persevered through the horrifying images and searched her primary target. She found it. A-Drei at the age of 10 with two eyes and no smile. But Akira murmured without thinking. "Kawaii…" She blinked several times, and shook her head. Yeah right. What was she thinking again? Saving the image though, Akira then began going through his files and saw his data, uncensored. And then she found the name. Not that awful code name, but his REAL name.

And then she searched that… And then she found it… and if her jaw can get any lower upon finding the truth, it will. Most of the existing articles about him while bearing that name were dated… at least **12** years old.

**00000000000000**

Haruto rested his forehead against the wall as he let the hot water washes over his body. He already washed away the filth from him some time ago, but right now, dirt is the last thing he's worried about. Right now it's not his external condition he's worried about… it's what burgling in his insides that's bothering him to no end.

Suddenly, he can feel someone is staring at him from behind. He glanced from his shoulder. "What is it, Hinomoto-san?"

"I want a rematch." Jin stated easily. "10 shots vs 10 shots. Fairly this time. And I want you to fight seriously too from the start."

"Not now."

Jin frowned. "You didn't shoot me back there wasn't because you waited for me to change my mind right?"

"I said…" Haruto turned around and growled angrily. "**Not… now…!"**

Jin gasped when he saw Haruto's eyes glows red with red scars on his face and fangs protruding from his teeth.

Jin frowned and raised his hands defensively. "O… okay… whenever you're ready."

Haruto sighed and calmed down immediately.

He turned off the shower and walk away. Curiously, there are a mass of boys hanging by on the entrance towards the changing room. Something or someone is preventing them from entering the room. "Oi Tokishima! Help us!"

"…What?"

"Your girlfriend is right outside!"

Haruto blinked. He quickly walked outside with only his towel covering his lower half, and there she saw Saki carrying some brochures in her hand. "Saki…? This isn't like yesterday; you don't get to say I was blinded by vomit this time."

"Thank you for the observation genius." Saki smirked and then he handed Haruto the brochures. "Date."

"…excuse me?" Haruto blinked in confusion. And then he looked at the brochures and they all showed info about the best spots in the module for a loving date with your girlfriend.

"Take me out on a date will you? We've been together for… how long now?"

"A couple of weeks."

"Average statistic shows that if a boyfriend didn't take their girlfriend even once during that period, they're either a cheat or they're not interested."

"What? No? I'm not a cheat!"

"Then take me out on a date. Tomorrow morning. Got it?" Saki glared. This is not an order, this is an ultimatum. She turned around and began to leave.

"You barge in into a boy's changing room just to get me to ask you out on a date?"

"Why are you so shy about it?" Saki looked down gleefully at Haruto's covered lower half. "We've seen each other naked so many times already." She chuckled before she flicked the towel on a certain part, causing it to fall.

Every other boys blushed furiously. Oh dear… so they really did go that far… huh… Once the news was out that would be the official end to the Rukino Saki fan-club.

"Tomorrow morning." An embarrassed Haruto pulled the towel back up. "What time?"

"9." She turned around and smirked. "AM."

And then she left in a huff.

Haruto looked dumbly at the brochures in his hand… and then he glanced at the other boys peeking through the showers.

"That is some girl…" One of them muttered.

Haruto nodded in agreement.

**00000000000000**

Pino is now overseeing the final finishing touches on the masterpiece that what was once his brother's Valvrave. Human technology had truly advanced to incredible levels. Back then, in their own world, it took them several decades to construct one valvrave. Of course there was the fact they were spiritual beings trying to create a 25 meters tall physical image of themselves. Yes, the oversized scale was a bit much. But Valvrave construction was their first undertaking towards the unknown territory of the physical world and they went overkill… a bit… just in case.

And now… it took the humans only less than a week to bring the Valvrave from ruin to… this. Pino shook her head. If his brother saw this, he'll be rolling down in shock and excitement.

"I take it this is unit 02?" L-Elf looked at the still offline but nearly finished unit before him.

Pino smiled. **"Yes. I modeled it after my brother, Prue." **Pino noted.

"Why does it look like…"

"**A wolf?" **Pino guessed correctly. **"When he first landed on earth, he took possession of the first animal that tried to eat him. A wolf. He likes being one. In fact, many of my friends told me he had a sweeter disposition as a wolf, some say he'll make a better wolf than man. Regrettably, when he finally took a human body, things went a little out of hand with his genes – something to do with the radiation emitted by the moon's light. Can't seem to decide whether he's a human or a wolf or something in-between." **

L-Elf quickly guessed. "Werewolf. Your brother is the one who started the legend of werewolves."

Pino nodded. **"Come. Let me show you something."**

Pino floated ahead and Haruto followed behind her. They're heading towards the hangar where 01 is being hanged. They've upgraded a lot of things, added a new enormous exhaust vent on its back. Its side skirt has been added with extra long armor with exhaust ports, and a pair of manipulator arms with hard-points. The back skirt has an extra pair of Sense Nerve wing petals, and an extra pair of neon green wings had been added to the already existing two, and they were all merged on a single pair of reinforced arms that held them together. **"We call it, Valvrave Full Impact mode." **(AN: basically, it's similar to Valvrave 01 full impact mode, minus the impact boosters on arms and legs. Why? Keep reading.)

L-Elf noted flatly. "You increase the mobility… added some armors and some thrusters. Making it significantly harder to control… but faster, more agile… and tougher as well."

"**But that's not what I'm here to show you. Come with me."** Pino floated away from unit 01. He moved towards the forge. A massive warehouse. And then she showed its content to L-Elf.

A pair of Katanas. Massive as befits the fact that it will be used by a 21.9 meter tall giant robot.

"**Z-Muramasa blades. Much sharper and stronger than the previous Z-Edges. Build using the basics of sword making used by Japanese Swordsmith of the 12****th**** century." **Pino explained. **"I even named it. This one, is called Futtouchi (Literally: Boiling Blood)." **She pointed at a blade with serrated edge on the blunt side.** "And that one-"** She pointed at a peculiar blade with the serrated edge on the cutting edge. **"-is called Gyouketsu (Blood Clot). They may well be my finest work since **_**Juuchi Yosamu**_** (****十千夜寒****, "10,000 Cold Nights"). What's more, I'm told that the engineer applied a High frequency treatment to it. Basically, it reinforced the blade by-"**

"-By coursing it with a powerful alternating current that resonates at extremely high frequencies. This oscillation weakens the molecular bonds of anything it cuts, thereby increasing its cutting ability. It also renders the blade in a monomolecular state, making it extremely sharp, and virtually indestructible."

"**Hm. You know your stuff." **Pino nodded. **"Come. There's something else I want you to see."**

Pino took L-Elf to another hangar. This time, Pino showed… a huge three legged Raven Mech. Its design follows the raven theme on the Impact Boosters, but this one look more like an actual raven rather than a plane. What's more, L-Elf noted, it has a pilot seat on its head, which has a neon green sense nerve similar in design to that of the Valvraves, with actual eyeball like cameras embedded on it. Its wings were structured to look like actual Raven wings, but it has two pair of what appears to be a two digit talons extended out at outermost part of each wing, making a grand total of four talons. The tips of the talons were long and sharp, made of red clear fossil, as do the feathers decorating the other part of the wing, with 2 rings of neon green sense nerve embedded on each of the wing's base and span. It has a surprisingly long tail wing… which strangely looked like a wide twin scabbard to hold two blades.

"This is…"

"**Familiar Drone specifically designed for 01's use, the Yasha-Garasu."** Pino explained. **"The pilot seat is cosmetic by the way, you don't actually have to pilot it. It's only there for maintenance and test-run. I show you this to teach you how to use it… and in turn you can teach Haruto all about it later." **

"Pino." L-Elf frowned. "…does anyone… who has been transformed by unit 01… will be… just like Tokishima Haruto? Berserk seizures and all?"

Pino chuckled. **"Those seizures are instinctive reaction. A bodily self defense mechanism went into hyperdrive, every Novus Magius have it. But… I can understand what you mean, and my answer… is no. Chalk it up to the fact that… Haruto was different. He is… unique. From the very basis of genetic built-up, he was different. That makes him one of a kind. So even if Hinomoto Jin entered this unit and transformed into a Magius, he will be different than Haruto." **

L-Elf sighed. Hearing the name mentioned by Pino means she already knows about the whole replacement ordeal… somehow. Great. "Why him?" L-Elf finally asked. "What makes him so special that he deserves his genetic template to be different from other children?"

"**You mean why him and not you?"**

"That is a childish notion; I do not weep for what I will never have." L-Elf glared coldly.

Pino merely chuckled. **"Nothing. There's nothing special about Haruto. He's just an everyday boy you can find anywhere anytime. It just so happens his father was the head of the VVV project but all in all, there's nothing, special, about him… at all." **Pino smiled simply. **"And that's what makes him special. Because he's a no-one he can be anyone. He represents the limitless potential that every human can one day become just like him." **

"So you're saying Haruto was lucky… or unlucky… to have his father to be the head of the project that he gets his special genetic upgrades?"

"**Do you really think someone's gene determined what he will become? You of all people?"**

L-Elf twitched. "What do you mean… me of all people?"

"**I read your file, Mr. One Man Army."** Pino smiled while L-Elf merely looked on in discomfort. **"You were once a nobody. Just a street urchin. Not a royalty, nothing. At birth, the higher ups consider your genes useless and slated you for execution. But you didn't let it beat you. You rise up, with your own strength, you survive against all odds. You take back your life with your own two hands. And now, you wanted to bring out a revolution to your country, for Lieselotte, using my Valvraves and the Novus Magius to do so."**

"What's your point?" L-Elf grunted.

Pino chuckled. **"My point is… I think you should listen to Shoko, and calm down a bit. And why don't you reassess Haruto a bit more, hm? You'll be surprised on how much you two are quite alike… one way or another." **

The very thought he had any bit of resemblance with Tokishima Haruto sits nicely with the thought of throwing his guts out and then piss on it. "Just shut up and tell me what I need to know about the familiar UAV before I changed my mind and walk away."

Pino merely shook her head and laughed. **"Aw, why can't you be more honest?"** Nevertheless, she stopped with the teasing and began explaining.

**00000000000000**

Later that evening…

Saki took a deep… deep breath. Right. Everything is set, she picked her clothing carefully, she already made preparation on all possible dating places that Haruto will pick, and she already made arrangements. Now she must have resolve.

First… she needs a transport.

She can use her Kagerou but… she make a quick peek at what becomes of her partner, Carmilla. She looked at 04, Carmilla Mk. 2… and she couldn't believe her eyes. "Oh… my… god."

She HAD to take her on a ride. Right here… RIGHT THE HELL NOW!

And so alarms blared allover the Module when an unauthorized flight was registered. Bu~ut, Saki quickly silenced them all. _"Shut it, I'm taking her on a test drive!"_ Saki squealed happily.

"B… But!" The hangar crew stares helplessly at the cheering idol on their computer screen.

"Whoo hooo! Wheeeeee!"

Pino arrived at the scene together with a distressed L-Elf. Upon being told of the situation, Pino merely shrugged. **"Meh, let her." **She looked at the performance of the new Carmilla Mk. 2 with Saki at the helm. **"Carmilla Mk. 2 has an output like nobody's business now. She needs to get used to it. Just make sure you don't go too far, okay, Saki-chan?" **

"_Ro~oger!"_

After a few minutes of death defying and hair rising maneuver, Saki was quickly reminded on other pressing matter.

She quickly docked the nearly finished revamped Potemkin and visited its salvaged brain farm reactor.

**00000000000000**

Next morning…

9 O'Clock sharp.

Haruto arrived. And he couldn't find Saki anywhere…

"You're late." Her voice came from his behind the bushes.

"Eh!?" Haruto gasped as Saki walk out. "How could I be late? This is exactly 9 A-" Haruto's retort was cut off when he gasped and he almost forgot how to breathe upon seeing the sight before him.

Saki's body is practically bursting out of her cloth. She wear a strapless green flowery dress which slightly revealed her bosom, and its frilly skirt reached slightly above her waist, revealing her beautiful legs. And her hair is tied on a tail to one side, creating an asymmetrical, but cute look. "A girl always comes earlier than the boys you know. We think things through. You should too! You still made… me… wait…?" Saki's reply trailed to a stop when she noticed Haruto was staring at her long and hard.

"…" and Haruto just stare wide eyed at this beautiful being in front of him.

"Helloo… earth to Haruto?" Saki calmly swings her hand in front of his dazed eyes.

Haruto flabbergasted. "Uh… hm… uh… you… look… uh… pretty…? hm… breathtaking…? umm…" Haruto gulped. He kept trying to say something smart… but all he managed to do was opening and closing his mouth without saying a word. One of Saki's many merits as a self made idol was that she's already naturally beautiful without her trying to be… and now, she just give her best shot to look as best as she could… and it worked like wonders on Haruto's hormones, thereby making him, who only wear the only civilian cloth he had left with him: his student clothing, look like an idiot.

A fact that Saki noticed. "…don't tell me you don't have any other clothes besides your student clothing."

"…most of them are in my house… and my house was on a different module. The only ones I have in my dorms are mostly student clothing. Because that's what I wear… almost every day… really…" Haruto stated dumbly, still staring at his date's breath taking features.

"You… never bought any other clothes?" Saki blinked in disbelief.

"…never needed it."

Saki pouted cutely and then she smirked and finally resolves to simply hug Haruto's arm tightly. "Then you better make this up on our date." She snuggled herself tightly on Haruto's arm, and, either accidentally or purposefully, snuggled his arm in-between her breasts, much to Haruto's slight panic. "First stop: the boutique."

"Eh!? But… I was planning to…"

"Yes?"

"…I was planning on taking you to a bike store…?"

"Bike store… why bike store?"

"…I was thinking we can… ride bike together…?" But then Haruto peeped. "You know… get ourselves some transport first and then we can go anywhere much faster… that should cover a lot more places in shorter time…"

Saki looked flatly at Haruto and then she smiled adorably. "My, my… you did think this through."

"Well… I like riding bikes and all... so I thought we could spend the day riding bikes…"

"Bikes?" Saki's eyes twitched and her smile of admiration dissapears. What's with the plural? Did he not see what she's wearing!?

Haruto looked at Saki's dress… the skirt joining her hips together… practically impossible for her to cycle a bike on her own. "I meant bike. You sit at the back and I pedal the bike. Yeah. Of course. What was I thinking?" He grinned nervously.

Saki glared flatly at Haruto, which Haruto interpret as her being angry at him for being insensitive.

"I'm sorry… I didn't expect you to be wearing that… that incredibly… beautiful… dress…"

Saki blushed at the compliment and smiled widely. "Well come on then. To the bike store it is."

**00000000000000**

On that day off, everybody has their own idea on how to spent their god given much needed day of rest.

For example, Yusuke and Raizo had just been shown the heavy modifications that had been made to their unit. Unit 03 Mk. 2… and its new familiar companion, Unit 03-Reverse Mk. 2.

And now they're in a fierce argument over one thing. The one most crucial thing, so important that we're talking about blood on the streets, open war, revolution, and songs to be written:

"NOBU-LIGHTNING IS AS LAME AS HELL!" Yusuke roared.

"AND YOU THINK YOUR LORENTZ-STEIN IS OOZING WITH SEX APPEAL!?" Raizo retorted.

And that is deciding the unit's nickname.

**00000000000000**

Moments later, they arrived at the bike store… and they found a complication. The store's closed. The owner was apparently a former particle physicist and so he was arrested when Dorssia attacked the very first time, and he haven't been released. "Okay… hrmmmh… what to do?"

"What to do? You can just grab one bike." Saki shrugged. "Just smash open the shutter or the window or something."

"That would be stealing."

"Hey, we own this country. We own everything inside it until the owner comes back. You can just keep it and then return it later."

"…" Haruto sighed and finally nodded. He placed a palm on the garage shutters containing all the bikes. He grunted and then he tear the metal door like it's made of Aluminum foil. Inside there are bikes of every kind. Haruto chose a purple bike with a basket at the front and a comfy passenger seat for his girlfriend at the back, and the bell. Let's not forget the all important bell. "Okay. This will work." Haruto demonstrate this by ringing the bell several times like one revved their motorbike. "Ready?"

Saki laughed and happily sat behind Haruto. "Ready."

"Okay. First stop… department store, Boutique."

And Haruto began to pedal across the streets of the city. It felt weird… at first. Many people had returned to the city of the module, but they still have so many empty buildings. So many cars just left around on the broken deserted streets. So many shops are still closed. But as time went by, Haruto, and especially Saki began to enjoy the silence. It's as if there's nobody else in this world but them. A world just for the two of them. Saki contently found the idea to be extremely alluring. No war, no combat training… just the two of them, living together happily ever after, like in the fairy tale.

And then the road went downhill and the bike picking up speed. The gentle breeze of the wind blows against her face, causing her hair to flutter behind her. She sighed in happiness and comfily rested her head on Haruto's arching back, feeling his warmth against her face, hearing the sound of his heartbeat in her ears. She finds it very calming and soothing.

"Saki?"

"Haruto…"

"You okay back there?"

"Never better." Saki smiled. She's in heaven, in fact.

"I'm gonna pick up speed. You hang on tight."

She complied by lovingly hugged Haruto's waist before tightened her body to his. Haruto blushed as he can feel Saki's skin on his back. He blushed furiously, but cover it up by pedaling his bike a pace faster.

When they arrived at the department store, the electricity is still out. Indeed, the student council decided to manage the electricity, prioritizing on the essentials such as air, water, food, trash recycling system and other stuff whose task is to keep the human inside the module alive. That means all other pleasantries are secondary.

"So what are we going to do now?" Saki asked Haruto.

"Hmm… where's the electric box?"

They found the box at the back of the store. "Haruto… what are you going to do?"

Saki's question was answered when Haruto placed his hand over the electric box and frowned. Green energy surged from his hand into the box, and then through the cables… and finally the whole store.

Moments later, the store lit up and everything inside, from lamps, cash registry, cashier computer, and even escalators all went online.

"Haruto!" Saki looked disapprovingly at Haruto.

"Saki?"

"Remember what Pino said! Don't use your runes so callously!"

"It's okay." Haruto smiled calmly. "I kept a safety margin. Besides, powering an entire department store is a cinch compared to powering a Kagerou or a Valvrave."

Saki still felt greatly troubled by this. Haruto's clearly lying. She knows exactly what happened yesterday. He had another attack. Feeding the other pilots, using the Kagerous surpassing its specifications so many times… it all takes a toll no doubt. He just keeps masking it out.

"Hora, come on. Let's go get some clothes." Haruto grabbed a pouting Saki's hand and bring her into the store.

Once inside, Saki's gloomy mood instantly disappeared, quickly replaced with the excitement of a normal girl in a department store. Contrary to the initial plans, Saki went straight to woman's clothing section. Haruto on the other hand, doesn't mind.

Truth be told, this is what he had planned all along. He did owe her for quite a number of torn clothing articles… And so he just let her have her fun picking clothes.

One set of clothes, two of set of clothes…

Yeah. Let her have her fun.

Three sets… 6 sets…

That's… right… let her have…

9 sets… 12 sets…

Wait… wait a minute…

20 sets… 35 sets…

"Uh… Saki?"

"Hm?" Saki peeked out of the fitting room. She couldn't find Haruto anywhere. "Haruto… where are you?"

"Right here…" Haruto's hand reached out beneath the pile of clothing that buried him. "Help…"

Saki flatly looked at Haruto's plea for help… and then she asked. "Can you still breathe?"

"…yes."

"Then you'll be okay! There are still a couple more clothes I wanna try." And she's back inside the fitting room, leaving Haruto buried under.

Some hours later – and few more dozen clothes squeezing the life out of Haruto, Saki finally left the store with a new cloth for her safely in the bag. "Right… now I need… this way!" Saki grabbed Haruto's arm who, at this point, had been virtually reduced to a traumatized crumpled dish rag, unaware of what's happening around him, and thus he's unaware that Saki is dragging him across the floor towards a certain section of the store.

Saki put a very tired and still barely conscious Haruto on a seat and grabbed some choice articles before she went into the fitting room. In the mean time, while he waited, Haruto regained his senses and saw exactly where they are. 'Wait a second…'

He looked left: camisole and brassiere.

He looked right: forward hook bra and G string.

He's in the woman's underwear section. And he's sitting right in front of the fitting room.

Moments later, the fitting door opened, revealing a half naked Saki, showcasing her beautiful body wearing an incredibly sexy and revealing black underwear: a very tiny and obviously undersized thong and a bikini bra which only consist of a sizable patch to cover nipples, hanged by thin strings… and nothing else. "Well? What do you think?"

Haruto nearly short-circuited. Nearly. He resorted to merely state a quick: "Good." Before he ran out of the undergarment section like a bat out of hell.

Haruto waited outside the section, panting and gasping, holding his heart as it beats a mile a minute inside his chest. And some minutes later, he felt a poke on his back and saw a cutely pouting Saki with puffed flustered cheek, standing behind him, once again wearing that green dress, hands crossed… carrying a second bag, a second clothing article. Some black strings sticking out of the said bag quickly confirmed Haruto's worst fear. "S… Saki… you… that… string of an undergarment… you… bought it?"

"Why not? You said it looked good on me." Saki smiled. "I think I'm gonna wear it beneath my clothing every day now." She grinned naughtily at a pale Haruto. "Next is… ah! Yes! I need a new swimming suit!" Before Haruto can protest, Saki had already dragged him towards his second most dreaded store in the woman's clothing section.

Once again, Haruto was situated to sit in front of the fitting room. Again. "This time, don't you dare to leave me alone like before!"

"Ah… but I-"

"What if some guy attacked me when I'm getting changed!? A boyfriend's job is to look after his girlfriend during their most vulnerable moment, you know!"

"…okay. I get it. I'll stay."

Saki smiled happily having won the argument. She grabbed a few swimsuits and entered the fitting room. Haruto shuddered at the thought of what kind of show she'll be giving him next.

When the curtain was open, all of Haruto's worst fear was realized.

Saki wear a flowery two piece string white bikini which showed plenty of her ample breasts and even highlighted her groin area. "What do you think?"

"I… it's good!" So says Haruto with his hands covering his peeking eyes. Saki re-entered the fitting room to change to a new bikini.

This time, it's a sling bikini consists of only pair of strings that was hung from his neck, stretched down to cover only a small part of her breast, and joined together on the groin. "How bout now?"

Haruto could barely look. He was too embarrassed to say anything. But he managed a tiny peep. "It's… good." Saki pouted and then she reentered the fitting room. Haruto literally begged on his knees. "Saki! Please I'm begging you! Could you please… enough with the risqué bikinis!?"

"Daijobu." Saki smirked. "The next one is a one piece."

"A one piece? Oh…" Haruto sighed in relief. 'Thank god. If it's one piece I think my heart can rest a bit easier."

And then the curtain was removed again… and Haruto's jaw reached the floor.

This time… she's as good as naked. Yes, it's a one piece bikini. To be exact: a see through bikini. Her bikini are so skimpy, they were also made of a material so thin Haruto can actually make out her skin behind it. It also barely enough to cover her groin, and even then her bulging womanhood are still visible in an erotic outline. And then from chest up… it's covered only in strings. Literally.

That was too much stimulation for Haruto. He fainted standing up.

**00000000000000**

Aina spend her free time walking around the school, her mind completely troubled. This morning, someone showed the vid of the close battle between Haruto and Saki vs Jin and Nao of the second team. Skai barely won, and Haruto lost in the end. And now there's this talk around the school that Haruto might be replaced. A prospect she found horrifying… and confusing.

If the idea is a replacement, then she, who scored the lowest out of all Valvrave pilots, should be the first on the chopping block. She looked everywhere for L-elf, asking him to rescind that decision. Instead, she eaves-dropped a bunch of students in pilot suits, near the simulator. She quickly hid and eyed their suit. Unlike the Valvrave pilots which had their own custom color, their suit is monotone silver.

"Hey, have you seen the vids?"

"Yeah… that Haruto guy lose!"

"Yeah… but… that last maneuvers… damn they're amazing!"

"Amazing, smazing. He's still lose." The said pilot retorted. "Way I see it, this is also a chance for all of us. If we can beat the other main pilots, maybe we can take over!"

"Yeah… but who? Saki-chan is definitely right out… not sure I can handle that Raizo…"

"I saw the scores. At the bottom is that Aina girl. We beat her, then make our way to the top!"

"Heh. Cool." And the two pilots walk away, far from Aina's earshot.

Aina heard enough anyway. In the end, she couldn't find L-Elf and instead she talked about it with Inuzuka inside the refurbished 05's cyberspace.

"**Oh don't say such silly thing about being replaced!" **Inuzuka growled. **"That L-Elf had no right! No right to decide what's what! Besides, your scores are improving, aren't you?"**

"I don't know sempai." Aina reiterated. "In that training exercise, I can do what I had to. I can fight. I can shoot. But… that was just paint gun. And I know I'm fighting my friends, and they mean me no harm but…" Aina buried her head to her knees, more miserable than ever. "…when we had to fight… when we really had to fight… for real… I don't know if I can do it. To pull the trigger. I mean… to shoot total stranger…"

"**Aina… if you don't kill them, they will kill you, or worse, they will kill all our friends."** Inuzuka replied.

"But they're people too. They must have a life. They also have friends! Families! Husbands, sons, brothers… if they die… what about those who were left behind?"

Inuzuka smiled kindly at Aina. Truly, she's a very kind girl. L-Elf and A-Drei would've called her naïve fool… but, Inuzuka doesn't think so. Her naivety makes her human. And unlike others, she didn't resign her humanity the first time for herself… she's doing it for him. That makes her the most human out of all the Valvrave pilots. And he'll be damned if he let this war took that humanity away from her. **"I understand, Aina-chan."**

"Senpai?"

That's right. From the very beginning, it should've been him, in her shoes right now. **"Aina. You won't fight. You don't have to."**

Aina blinked.

**0000000**

**Sometime later…**

The two Kagerou pilots were suddenly confronted by Aina, who looked at them in a strangely, angry way. "You two…" Aina growled. "Get aboard your Kagerous. Let's see if you guys got what it takes to beat me down."

The two pilots looked at each other in surprise. They were just planning and joking about it… and now it actually happened without them having to say anything? They grinned widely. "You're on girl!"

5 minutes later, L-Elf detected another unauthorized launch… but it's coming from the hangar where the Kagerous were being stationed. He simply rolled his eyes and took his time to go there.

When he do arrive, the battle was already over.

A black and blue Kagerou dual wielding a pair of paint gun is standing triumphant with only 3 shots marring its body, while two others were floating in space, covered in various places with paint blots.

L-Elf smirked and contacted the pilot. "Admirable performance, **Inuzuka **Aina."

Inuzuka growled. "You keep her out of this. You hear me? If there's target needs killing, I'm your guy. But don't you dare ask her to sully her hands with blood for my sake."

"Provided you do not compromise our limited combat capability, I'm all ears." L-elf coldly replied.

"Then we have ourselves a deal." Inuzuka cocked her guns.

**00000000000000**

Moments later, Haruto woke up and the first thing he sees was Saki's smiling face.

"Wakey-wakey, love." And she's fully clothed in that green dress, thank god.

"Saki… where am I?"

"We're out of the swimming apparel section, if you're still worried about it." Saki lovingly played with Haruto's hair.

"A… ah… I see…" Haruto sighed in relief. "And that swimming suit… oh… never mind. I don't want to remember it." The first Novus Magius groaned and rubbed his aching temple. His face hurts, he must've fallen on his face when he fainted.

Saki wisely decided to keep the news on which swimsuit she bought a secret for now. Too much of a good thing is bad after all.

As Haruto's eyes readjusted to get a better look at the surroundings he saw his condition of how his head is laying down atop Saki's plump and soft thighs, and… he's looking at Saki's well endowed figure from below.

Haruto stared at it for a few full seconds and then he murmured. "…toilet."

Saki nodded. "In that case, get changed! I picked a few clothes that I think will suit you."

Haruto got up, took the clothes and quickly go towards the restroom. Once inside… he did what he had to do… answer nature's call, getting changed… and more importantly: bring himself under control.

BANG! CRACK!

Haruto punched the concrete wall with his fist, generating a deep crater, denting the electric cable planted inside, causing the lighting to temporarily went on and off. Haruto pant up and down, the fangs had began to show up and the markings vaguely appeared on his face… but then he took a deep breath… and bring himself under control.

Indeed, that wasn't an ordinary fainting. Haruto had been trying his very damndest to stop his curse from overtaking him and take her then and there. But… the clash between his uncontrollable animalistic instinct and his human rationality born from his unwillingness to hurt the woman she loved took a massive toll on his being. Saki's teasing doesn't make it easier, but it's not like he want her to stop. He'll just have to endure it.

When he comes out of the toilet, Saki was waiting patiently next to his bike. She smiled brightly when she saw Haruto had put on the clothes she bought him. The new clothing includes a black jacket over a red T-shirt and blue jeans. It suits him just fine. "So… where to next?"

Haruto smiled. "The Amusement Park."

**00000000000000**

"Is there no way we can increase Kagerou's performance…" Ryuuji stated. "Particularly its defensive and pilot survival feature? Remember, these teenagers that will be piloting them! We need everything that will make up their lack of experience and skills. An extra weapon or something?"

"There might be a way…" Kibukawa nodded. "Putting aside the fact that Kagerou's outputs are significantly lower than a Valvrave, let's not forget that these things are still, from mechanical standpoint, Valvraves. They still possess the same parts, the same hardpoints, and the same component."

"You're saying…"

"Many spare parts of the original five Valvraves can no longer be used because of how intensive the modifications we made upon them. And I'd like to think that they're not entirely obsolete."

**00000000000000**

The amusement park, like every other part of the city, is virtually deserted. Kinda lose its charm a little, as it lack the cheerful, joyous atmosphere that usually comes from the other crowd visiting the park, but there's always a silver lining: No queues.

Unfortunately, like with the Department store, no electricity.

No problem, they just had to repeat the routine of powering things up using Runes. They found the electric box, but before Haruto can do it, Saki stopped him.

"Oh no. This time, it's my turn." Saki showed her glowing hand and then pressed her hand on the electric box. Green energy surged throughout the whole park, and then the carousel start spinning, the lights lit up, the arcade blared to life, even the music starts to play.

Saki laughed happily upon seeing everything is online and she quickly grabbed an amazed Haruto's hand and dragged him in. "Come on Haruto! Let's have some fun!"

Shooting gallery

It all started with how Saki went love at first sight with a giant stuffed bird like doll. So normally, she quickly hounded Haruto to win it for her.

Unlike before, they can't just smash their way to get it, it was locked behind a thick Plexiglas. They have to win it.

Not because they can't just break it but… that would be too unsporting and where's the fun in that?

The goal is simple. They just have to shoot a UFO flying erratically on top of good old planet earth from their stand using the provided built in air soft gun. The time limit is 40 seconds.

After handling and pursuing L-Elf in his maniacal maneuvering, a preprogrammed UFO maneuvering is a cinch.

Or it should be.

First try, Haruto failed, and Saki gets a complimentary tissue gift. Saki pouted, and Haruto was all smile and chuckles. "Alright. I'll try again, we'll get it this time."

Saki smiled happily at Haruto's enthusiasm.

And yet, 10 minutes into the shooting, and Haruto had yet to win the much sought after doll. And Saki grew increasingly irritated at her boyfriend's failure. "Haruto~!" Not even the infamous puppy dog eyes incentive can help. But as usual, Saki knew if you want something, you have to fight for it too. "That's it! I'm joining the fight!"

And yet, even with two shooters, the pesky alien invader continues to elude them, and the couple is swiftly running out of patience as their feet are being buried by that useless complimentary tissue gift. Even the usually patient Haruto found himself angered. "What is this!?"

Saki's was equally angered, but her anger quickly pave way for a calmer state of emotion: suspicion. After the nth failure to shoot that blasted UFO, Saki checked the air soft gun barrel. From the outside, the barrel seems okay… but if one to look at the gun hole… "I knew it… the game's rigged!"

"Eh?"

"They bent the barrels at the inside." Saki grumpily slapped the gun in frustration. "No matter how much of a crackshot we are, the bullet will never hit."

"Never hit eh?" Haruto growled. Now this isn't the matter of winning anymore. This is the matter of pride as a boyfriend wanting to give something that his girlfriend wanted badly. Another try, and this time, Haruto put every bit of his skill he earned with his blood, sweat, and tears during the intense training. 'Okay… take the bent barrel into consideration… when I aim at something, the bullet will fly to 3 cm off target… offset that… and…' and soon, the bullet is starting to go where he wanted it to be.

Saki looked hopefully at Haruto with gleaming eyes.

And finally, one bullet hit the UFO.

"YES!" Haruto and Saki cheered.

Time's up. And Saki get…

The complimentary tissue.

"What!? WHY!?" Saki roared in anger.

Haruto looked at the rules again. "It says… you only get the grand prize if the UFO is knocked over…"

The two looked and saw the UFO was indeed NOT knocked over. Saki walked into the cashier and checked that UFO. Luckily, the stand owner was arrested, so he wasn't there to stop her. And then she found that the UFO was made of metal plate, and the damn thing was bolted tight to the manipulator arm. Even if they were to rain the UFO with air soft bullets all day long, that thing will never be knocked over till judgment day. "Even the target is rigged." Saki stated angrily.

Haruto's eyes twitched dangerously. Final try.

Haruto enhanced the bullets with runes this time, as do Saki. Both fired in a shooting frenzy out of the need of a stress relief and a mad case of anger managment. By the time they were done, the UFO – and truth be told, the whole booth - now resembles a swiss cheese, and it was knocked over at last. The sign of the winner lit up and the plexiglass container containing the doll opened up for Saki to claim her prize. "Yay! Thank you, Haruto!" She hugged it and then snuggled at Haruto.

Haruto smiled, happy for Saki. As they left the, stand finally collapse into complete wreckage. Haruto and Saki looked at the ruins one last time, feeling little to no regret, before they walk away.

"That stand was a bit much… but… let's try not to blow up every stand shall we?"

"Sure. Where to next?"

"Let's take turns. Saki, you pick."

**0000000**

Water Slider Boom Space car

Technically, it's the same with the usual Bumper car… with one difference. You do it in zero G. And why is it called water? Because you do it atop a floating big blob of water. The goal is to keep yourself astride your bumper car, and above water. Problem is, the bumper car has been designed specifically to prevent the rider to be nailed on the seat. There's only a safety cable tied to the leg long enough to prevent the rider from being thrown too far away from the car, but not enough to prevent you from falling into the water. You hit your opponent, they sink, and you won.

Understandably, regardless of whether one will win or not, the players will, invariably and inevitably, get wet. Fortunately, it came with a big bold written warning right at the entrance. Unfortunately, because a huge written warning has been given, the players are expected to bring their own **swimming suits**.

Haruto jawdropped. "Oh lord no."

Saki grinned. "Oh hell yes."

Haruto: a normal boxer swimming suit. Saki: that near see through one piece bikini.

And the strategy worked like clockwork.

Throughout the bumping battle, Haruto was on a complete run. "Wahoo!" Saki bumped Haruto for the nth time.

"WHOAA!" Haruto could barely hold on. Half of his pants had been dipped in water. "Saki! Take it easy!" Then again, even if Saki wasn't wearing that awfully distracting swimsuit of a bikini, he's not one to play it rough.

Regrettably, Saki didn't share the sentiment. "But this is fun! Whoo-hooo!" One last hit and Haruto was thrown off the seat and into the water.

Saki laughed happily as he saw bubbles next to Haruto's car which denote where he is. She's still smiling even when Haruto didn't show up after some time. 'Any minute now.' She's still not worried…

And then the bubbles stopped… and Saki is officially in panic. "Haruto? HARUTO!?" She quickly approached the spot where Haruto fell and bent her head down. "Haru-"

Suddenly Haruto jumped out of the water, grabbed her and then pulled her into the water as well. "KYAAAA!"

Saki quickly burst out of the water, shivering and very angry, and yet she's looking at a grinning Haruto.

He smirked. "Is that fun enough for you?"

Saki pouted… but then, she smiled back and splashed Haruto's face, which he quickly returned. The two played this splashing game with laughing and squealing mixed in for a few minutes. Saki pull back, getting ready to push forward with a huge charge, intending it to be a big one, but then she forget that her leg is still tied to her boat.

She get her big splash, but at the same time her whole body tugged backwards, losing her balance, she fell right into Haruto's welcoming arms.

"Saki… you alright?"

"Yeah… I'm alright."

Saki hold on to Haruto's neck, trying hard to keep herself afloat with just one foot while Haruto did the same. And as they calmed down and looked at each other and chuckled. But then, Haruto's attention was quickly distracted from Saki's wet smiling face… to what becomes of her clothings.

A really skimpy see through one piece… is effectively an inexistent swimming suit when it's completely wet. All the blood rushed to his face and Haruto swallowed a gulp to keep himself from fainting – which given their condition might ended up with both of them sinking.

"Uh…" Haruto had to put an end to this. "Let's… let's… get out okay? We're both wet enough already."

Saki chortled. "Right."

Not long after, the two had already dried themselves up and changed back to their dating clothes. When they left the ride, Haruto was still too embarrassed to say anything, dragged his bike across the pavements. Saki hugged Haruto tightly, snuggling her body to his to make them a bit warmer.

But with the cold comes the growl of a pair of hungry stomachs.

"Do you think they have anything to eat?" Saki purred.

"There's a nice crepe bar… right over there." Haruto noted in a tired tone.

**0000000**

When they arrived at the crepe bar, they found another complication. Unlike the many other automated amusement ride, this one is manual. And seeing the owner went missing, anybody who's hungry for crepe has to be able to make the crepe themselves.

Something that neither Haruto nor Saki knew how.

So they split the job. Haruto handles the dough, Saki handles the filling. And while she do excellent job with the grounded beef burger…

"Well I mean… this should be easy… you pour the dough on the baking pan…" Haruto accidentally poured the whole pot, overflowing the pain.

In the end… Haruto had to cut pieces of the 3 inches thick crepe from the over flowingly thick dough, creating a bizarre bread… that can easily be mistaken for a bread colored rubber.

The crepe turned into a rather awkward burger with mishappen bread… and as it turns out, it didn't just LOOKED like a rubber, it also ahs the elasticity of a rubber. How did Haruto managed to create it? Lord knows. Saki and Haruto had to struggle to rip the damn bread to pieces with their fanged teeth.

"So… what next? Your turn to pick Haruto." Saki still clings tightly to Haruto's arm. Haruto looked left and right and then saw…

"Hey… photo booth!" Haruto pointed one of the must have in dating.

The couple entered the booth, took a few flashes of pictures, and then come out to grab the results.

Haruto and Saki stand together in that tiny photo stickers, Saki hugged her doll before her as she rested her head on a blushing Haruto's shoulder.

Saki smiled happily. Great. Something to remember this day. "Now… my turn to pick, right?"

"Please… something that doesn't involve us opening clothes… please?" Haruto figuratively pleaded desperately.

Saki nodded. "Right. Something of a… break I guess." She pointed at the next ride.

**0000000**

Roller Coaster

They're going up…

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHHHH!" Haruto screams…

They're going down…

"WHEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Saki cheered…

Left, right, barrel roll, upside down, the works.

5 minutes later…

Haruto is throwing out all his lunch into a nearby trash can.

"You know… we pilot Valvraves… we perform all sorts of crazy maneuvers… dodging bullets and missiles left and right…" Saki shook her head. "…and you still can't handle a good old fashioned roller coaster."

Haruto didn't reply and he kept vomiting.

Saki now felt really bad. Haruto had always chosen the calming relaxing activity while she chose the hair raising and heart pounding rides. She's forgetting, this is supposed to be a break. A relaxation! "You know what… Haruto… you pick this time."

Haruto looked at Saki, as if confirming that her offer is genuine.

"Yeah. You can pick this time. Whatever you like."

Haruto nodded and smirked with his mouth still covered with some bits of vomit smeared on his lips. He weakly pointed at the-

**0000000**

Haunted House

Saki took a few steps… and she realized she… is so not going to enjoy this.

Haruto put a hand behind her back, 'reassuring' her to go on.

They sat on the cab, and it began to move on its tracks. First was the zombie horde from the graveyard, and Saki's fingernail sunk into Haruto's arm.

And then grim reapers sprouting of the misty wall and Saki's lips visibly tremble, her teeth clattered slightly.

A headless knight carrying his talking head astride burning horse armor, and she's hyperventilating and her cold sweat can fill buckets. Haruto began to regret bringing her here.

And then, finally… the worst… a dark room. A very dark room and a gaunt lady with scissors for fingers sprang up from above them, scaring both shitless. Saki who were so scared she actually blacked out, Haruto, who panicked when Saki actually fainted in his arms.

10 long minutes that felt like 10 lifetimes later, the ride ends and Haruto carried the cold sweating Saki to a nearby couch. "Saki? Saki!? Oh god! Saki!"

Saki groaned as she lay weakly in Haruto's lap. "Saki… Saki…" He shook her several times in panic.

After several shakings, Saki groaned to full wakefulness. "Haruto?"

"I'm sorry. Oh god. I'm so sorry. I didn't think you'll be that scared of haunted houses… I'm sorry."

Saki smiled weakly.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry…" Haruto kept repeating it over and over again.

Saki reached out her hand and touched his face gently. "It's okay, Haruto…"

"I shouldn't have brought you here…"

"It wasn't you."

Haruto still look so miserable.

Saki sighed. "…can I pick again this time?"

"…I think we had enough of amusement park today."

"One more. And trust me… this one is easy on both of us."

**0000000**

Ferris Wheel

The two lovers sat calmly in one of the cabins. Haruto was silent the whole time, wallowing in remorse, while Saki remained quiet as she enjoyed the view from above. They didn't say anything, not a word.

Until…

"When I was a little girl…" Saki started, and Haruto gave her his attention. "I rarely go home. I mean, what's the point? I only have my loser alcoholic dad and my drug abusing half sane mom."

"Saki…"

"Whenever I did come home, more often than not, she and my dad never fail to have some argument going on. My father would make his point by throwing empty bottles allover the place, mum would never be further than an arm's reach away from a pair of scissors." Saki chuckled bitterly. "Scissors." She repeated.

"Saki." Haruto repeated. Saki's face is just too painful to watch now.

"When they ultimately divorced… I think either lawyer think I would be better off without either of them-"

Haruto wasn't asking anymore. He immediately closed her mouth with his before she utter another word.

Saki blinked, and then her eyes widened in surprise… and then she calmly and happily reciprocated the kiss.

The kiss lasted for 10 seconds, but it was deep and passionate enough to make it felt like it was 10 hours. They parted, and Saki was left with a very happy expression on her face, and Haruto was utterly flustered. "Feel better?"

Saki didn't answer, but she had this… wide grin on her seemingly surprised face, as if she had a moment of clarity. And indeed she was. The epiphany was: "That was the first time."

"What?"

"That's the first time… you actually took the initiative and actually kissed me first."

"…really?" Haruto frowned.

"Yes. Yes. Every time we… kissed… I had to make the first move and then the whole curse thing had to take over and down goes the romantic scene." Saki chuckled while Haruto still feel a bit flustered.

Saki sighed in content. "Haruto… what's your next plan?"

As that subject brought up, Haruto looked at Saki awkwardly.

"This is still a date?" Saki smirked. "We still have hours before sundown. Dates last a whole day… right?"

"Well…" Haruto sighed. "…I spent hours planning what to do… but after that… thing in the haunted house… honestly? I'm a bit at lost." Haruto scratched his not so itching head. "In short, I've forgotten what I had planned to do. Then again, perhaps that is for the best. You definitely need a rest. We've had enough fun-"

"No." Saki stated firmly as she glared at Haruto in all her seriousness. "No we're not. There's one more place to go that will make this a perfect date. And it just so happens, that's the one place I want-no-need to go."

Desperate to make it up to Saki, Haruto readily asked: "Where?"

Saki pointed at the place, easily spotted from their top view position.

**00000000000000**

Movie Theater

Like everything else, the place was deserted. Raizo and his gang had done watching and looted out all of the porn movies in that place, so people found little use of it. Haruto turned on the electricity with a little jolt of rune and Saki put the movie on the projector while Haruto cleaned up the best seats from stale leftover pop corn and unfinished soda pop.

The movie was… in a word… normal. It's a romantic drama story. Nothing fancy. Not great, but not too shabby either. What caught Haruto's interest was that Saki played in this story. Not as a main character, but as a minor supporting role, a side character. And throughout it all, Haruto must say, she performed brilliantly.

Saki watched herself in the movie. She remembered the days she spent taking part in this movie. She remembered the countless waking hours she spent, going through the scripts, speaking to the mirror to see how her expression looked like when she uttered each syllable, making sure she get the right emotion across.

And then…

"I've always been alone." Saki suddenly muttered, much to Haruto's shock. "No friends, no family. Nobody chose me. I wanted to be chosen. By just one person. If my loneliness became _our_ loneliness, that would be enough for me."

"Saki?" Haruto looked at Saki. "What are you-"

"_I've always been alone."_ The Saki in the screen repeated. Haruto looked at the screen. _"No friends, no family. Nobody chose me. I wanted to be chosen. By just one person. If my loneliness became __our__ loneliness, that would be enough for me."_

And in that one sentence, Haruto saw not whatever character Saki was playing, Haruto saw Saki herself uttering those words. And in that one moment… that single heartfelt moment, Saki wasn't performing. Which is why she shined incredible bright in that one moment. The other actors in the film were admirable and brilliant, but that sentence, that performance by Saki made everyone else looked like B-rate movie actors.

"Amazing right?" Saki snickered as she got up from her seat. "It's been 2 years since I played in that movie and I still remembered every word, every detail. I'm quite the actress, wouldn't you say?"

"Saki…" Harto understand completely. She wasn't performing. That was real. The emotions were real. "Saki… you're not alone anymore."

"Question: what do you think the actress was thinking when she said those lines?" Saki smiled… first mischievously… and then… "And second question…" She clasped Haruto's face, and gave him the most loving look she had never given to anyone but the one true love of her life. "What… is she thinking… now?" She whispered sweetly… before she brought her lips to his… deeply.

The kiss was passionate and long. Their mouth opening and closing on each other, trying desperately to swallow each other's lips, tongues meet and engulfed one another, tasting one another.

But then, Haruto suddenly parted away from Saki. Both are panting and gasping, a string of saliva still connected their lips. "Uh… um…"

Saki at first looked a bit chagrined… but then it gently and easily shifted in indifference… and finally a light smile of understanding. That is just so Haruto. Shy and wanting to keep a nice pace of everything. And she knows what lurk in his soul. And he want to keep that in check, for her sake. If only he knew. Saki chuckled. "Well… that was… intense… I guess?"

"I… guess… so…" Haruto felt really awkward. "Uhmm… let's finish watching the movie?"

"Nah. Let's ditch it. My character died unhappily by the end of the movie anyway. It sucks." Saki chuckled. "Let's go."

"O~okay."

When the two left the movie theater, the sky had turned purple yellow, indication of evening. Local time, it's 6 O'clock.

"WELL! This has been an amazing date. Well done, Mr. Tokishima. Not bad for your first time." Saki gave Haruto her evaluation of their very first date. "On a scale of 1-10 I'll give you a solid… 8 minus."

"Minus?" Haruto gawked. "Minus!?" He repeated.

"You scared me halfway to death until I fainted. You made me cook our lunch, which you partially ruined with that thick and rubbery crepe. 8 minus is more than you deserve really."

An officially incredibly depressed Haruto went crestfallen. "…sorry."

"Well… there's one way I may turn that into a 10…" Saki smirked naughtily, pushing the right button at the right time.

"?" Haruto's ears perked.

"…stop by the supermarket and then walk me home?"

Haruto blinked in confusion. He understand the walk her home part, that was his intention from the beginning. But what's this about the "…supermarket?"

"I need to buy ingredients for dinner." Saki smiled. "OUR dinner. You're going to eat dinner with me, I'm cooking. Or are you telling me you're okay with that god awful crepe?"

Haruto raised his hands in defeat. She won.

**00000000000000**

Supermarket…

"I'll be honest with… no offense, but I didn't know you can cook. Really."

"Hey, I think we both can agree that the most delicious part of that crepe is the burger I cooked, no?"

"…you're never gonna let go of that one, huh?" Looks like this rubber crepe ordeal is going to stretch a long way to go.

"No."

And thus how Haruto walked Saki all the way to the entrance of the said supermarket when he remembered something. "Oh no…"

"What?"

"I forgot something… something VERY important." He slapped himself silly. "Saki… uhh… take your time here, I will come back as soon as I can. I promise!"

"What? Forget what? Haruto-!?" Haruto didn't give her a chance to finish her question, he gave her a quick peck on the cheek and he quickly dashed into the street on his bike like a man possessed.

Saki glared at Haruto's speeding figure and she shook her head, visibly upset. She took a basket and entered the supermarket. As it happened, she was not the only one. There are some students there grabbing stuff. However, she'd like to note that she's the only one wearing a dress amidst other kids wearing students' uniform. Kinda makes her a little bit out of place really. Ignoring their awed stare, Saki aloofly go on doing what she came here to do.

She began grabbing things from the shelves as she start forming an image of what she's going to cook. Regrettably, that image has been slightly marred with how upset she was that Haruto left her like that. Hence why instead of imaging something delicious that will reach a man's heart located next to his stomach, she began thinking of a dish that will give Haruto a stomach-ache of a lifetime.

She absent mindedly grabbed a bottle of honey when she realized that jar was also being grabbed by another hand. The struggle was short as Saki regained her bearings, traced said arm and came face to face with the hand's owner.

"Ninomiya Takahi?" Saki rolled her eyes.

"Rukino Saki?"

Ninomiya Takahi, that aristocratic blonde girl is there as well, with her trolley parked behind her.

Just then, her two friends, Lily Yamamoto and Eri Watari, came after her, and they gasped in shock when they saw Saki is right in front of their… well… their 'queen'. They quickly rushed to her side and stand between Saki and Takahi defending the latter. "Rukino Saki, you stay away from Ninomiya-sama!"

Saki shook her head in amusement. "Easy-peasy girls. I'm not in a slapping mood at the moment."

But then, Saki noticed something was off about them… and then she understand: all three of them were not wearing their revealing skin tight gymnast clothing or their student uniform… no, they're wearing heavily armored silver grey PILOT suit. Takahi had hers unbuttoned all the way to her chest, revealing her well endowed bosom.

Takahi asked first. "What were you doing?"

Saki lifted her basket. "Shopping. For dinner. You?"

"I was doing the same thing actually." Takahi looked at Saki's gorgeous appearance in awe. She looked… stunning. Her usual look was pretty but this is… world's apart. She can tell that her friends were quite entranced with her beauty, all the guys are going head over heels, and all girls were brimming with envy. Now she understands why she can be an idol. "You shop… dressed like that?"

Saki chuckled. "I could say the same to you. Why are you wearing a pilot suit?"

"Why do you think?" Takahi smirked.

Saki thought quickly and then she chuckled in disbelief upon reaching an understanding. "You? Part of the second team? You?"

"Is there a problem?" Takahi narrowed her eyes sharply at Saki's shocked expression.

Saki shook her head and smiled awkwardly. "Nah. I'm just surprised. But why?"

"Why?" Takahi crossed her arms beneath her breasts. "Maybe because I just don't want to keep relying on you and other odd jobs like that Raizo and Yusuke to look after myself."

Saki rolled her eyes. "Odd jobs huh?" She chuckled.

"Problem?"

"No, no… it's fine. We can be a little bit… odd, I grant you." Saki smiled gently at Takahi, much to her confusion. She can understand Takahi's apprehension: Yusuke, a geek who knows better in fixing stuff rather than breaking it, Raizo being… Raizo… with his Thunder and all that… And then there's the whole Sakurai/Inuzuka Aina/Kyuuma mind swapping ordeal… Akira… a complete shut in… and Haruto… who, to put it kindly; have some serious mental health issues. And then there's her, Rukino Saki, who's just being… difficult. "I just never take you for a fighting woman who's willing to get her pretty hands dirty." Saki grinned.

Takahi was a bit caught off guard. She did not expect such a calm and mature response. "I'm just… stating the facts, Rukino Saki. You can be unreliable at times."

"I know you did." Saki nodded. "Look I don't like you. And you don't like me either. But that doesn't mean that everything you say is wrong." Saki sighed. "Look… I understand that we Valvrave pilots can be… difficult, sometimes. But… whatever we do… know that we do it, because… whatever we've become… we're still students of the Sakimori high. What we do, we do it to defend this school, and everyone in it. If you can believe that… then I say that's a step in the right direction."

Takahi blinked several times, and then her look somewhat softened, as if seeing Rukino Saki eye to eye for the first time. She nodded. "Truce?" She offered her hand.

Saki nodded and gladly returned the shake. "Truce."

The two shake hands and made their peace. For now. And then they're back to shopping.

And then Saki asked the most obvious question. "So… why are you dressed like that? Aren't we supposed to have a time off today?"

"Satomi thinks we should have some training in the simulator at least." Takahi answered.

"Satomi?" Saki paused for a moment, and then she nodded in understanding. "Ah… that one I can somehow see coming."

"He wanted to protect his sister, anyway he can." Takahi shook her head. Satomi's over-protectiveness of his sister does seem a bit… odd? "After he saw the latest vids… he realized we really are falling behind, so he suggested we drill some more by training in the simulators."

"Vids?" Saki frowned. "You saw it? You saw the fight?"

"Your team battle with Hinomoto and Ota. Your one sided butchery against Nao is one thing… but Haruto's fight with Jin… now that's an eye opener. We've been piloting that thing for 3 weeks, we have no idea it can move like that."

Saki felt a tinge of pride. After all, that's his boyfriend she's complimenting. "Of course. Who do you think he is? He's the first of the Novus Magius, and the first to pilot the Valvrave. He knows more about that robot than either of us."

Takahi looked at Saki's glowing expression. Goodness gracious, the girl's longing of Haruto couldn't be more obvious. "My, oh my. Look at that lovesick written allover your face. When is the happy day, may I ask?"

"Day?" Saki perked.

"You know? The wedding? Has he proposed or something?"

Saki blushed furiously at Takahi's comment. "Piss off."

But Takahi chuckled and wouldn't stop at her teasing. A nice way to get back at her. "You better make sure you buy some after-morning-pills."

"I did. A whole strip." In fact that was the first thing she did right after their first time. And she takes it every time they did it. Though there are also times she forgot if she had taken it. "Already finished the whole pack though. I think I need to buy some more."

Everyone in that supermarket who had been eaves-dropping the diva stopped dead on their tracks.

Takahi turned around and looked at Saki, perfectly dead serious, and blushing all the way to her ears. "…you really… have… done it… how many times now?"

Saki blinked innocently at the Blondie. "Excuse me… you were just joking?" The fact that Takahi's eyes widened to the size of a teacup was confirmation for Saki. "You were just joking." Now she felt so embarrassed she just wanted to find a hole to crawl in. Then again, if she wasn't joking, one shouldn't callously reveal something like that in PUBLIC! What is wrong with her!?

As if on cue, a ringing sound coming from a certain bike's bell came in from outside. Moments later, a flustered Haruto walked into the store. "Saki! I'm back! I…"

Haruto suddenly found himself being glared upon with angry bloodshot eyes from every angry, understandably jealous, male in the store. He saw Takahi's mouth gaped open in shock… and Saki was as red as the tomato in her hands.

"…what… happened?"

Within seconds, Saki finished her shopping and quickly snuggled at Haruto. She was so embarrassed, she could barely manage a whisper: "Let's go."

"…you're done?"

Saki nodded quietly.

"You're sure?"

Saki nodded again, more furiously this time. She tightened her hug on Haruto, trying to hid her embarrassment from everyone, including him. Haruto understand something embarrassing had happened and Saki wanted to leave as soon as possible.

"Okay." Haruto nodded.

She sat at the passenger seat as Haruto pedal away as fast as he could, quickly leaving the supermarket behind.

As they zoomed across the streets, Haruto couldn't help to ask. "Will you tell me what happened?"

Saki didn't answer. She just hugged Haruto tight and buried her head into his back. She's still too embarrassed to say it. Instead, she tried to distract herself. "Where were you?" She pouted.

"I…" Haruto nervously fidgeted. "I was… picking something I forget to pick." Haruto chuckled. "…umm… where is your house, again?"

Saki murmured the directions, and they soon arrived at an apartment. Haruto blinked in amazement at the size of the apartment as Saki climbed down from the bike. "Well come on." She pulled Haruto's sleeve several times and Haruto followed quietly.

In the elevator, Haruto found it strange that Saki kept quiet the whole time, her eyes remained hidden beneath her bangs, and yet the blush had yet to disappear. Now, Haruto was more worried than curious. "…did Takahi tease you that badly? Or did she-"

"She couldn't hurt me even if she tried anyway." Saki chuckled. But she still looked somewhat… down. As if she was overwhelmed by a great sense of guilt of having done something really wrong.

"Saki… I'm… I'm really worried now… are you okay?" Haruto suddenly blinked. "Were you mad because I left you alone in the supermarket?"

Saki looked at Haruto's concerned face, and she snickered. Just like Haruto to always worry about others before himself. She smiled naughtily and regained some bits of her mischievous self. "Yes. I'm mad. Do you have any idea what it's like when I shop while I was dressed like this without anyone by my side? Everyone's staring at me! It felt so embarrassing I could die!"

"Sorry." Haruto fell into depression again.

Saki chuckled and then she laughed. "Oh come on. Turn that frown upside down, it's not that bad." Saki approached Haruto and caressed his face, lifting it up. "Still… I'm curious. What exactly did you picked up? It must be really important for you to panic like that."

"It is." Haruto "…to be honest… it's… for you really."

Saki's gentle smile faltered slightly.

Haruto reached into his pocket and then he handed something for her. A gift that, though she had not known it, she will treasure forever. An ordinary pink locket.

"I took it from the gift shop near the movie theater. Something to… make up for… well… having a minus date and all and…"

Saki took the locket from Haruto and glued her eyes on it, never leaving it from her sight, not saying a word until the elevator reached their destination.

"Ah, we're here." Only when Haruto said so did Saki averted her eyes from that unassuming locket.

"R-Right." Saki nodded. "H… Haruto… be a good boy and bring my stuff to my room? Third door on the right."

"Sure." Haruto nodded and grabbed the bags containing her stuff. He momentarily stopped and looked back at Saki. She seem a bit… off. A bit… uncertain with herself. "Saki, seriously… are you alright."

Saki perked and smiled sweetly at Haruto. "I'm alright. In fact… I felt… better than I've ever been all my live." She once again caressed Haruto's face. "You go on ahead. I'll be just a sec."

Haruto felt something was off with that request, but he nodded anyway and walked ahead first.

Saki grasped the locket in her hands… and then she fell with her back against the elevator walls. Lord help her. Now she knows what's wrong with her. It all makes sense now. She is crazy. Yes. She loved Tokishima Haruto so much… she's gone mad because of it. And it felt good. She likes going out of her mind because of her unending love for Haruto. "That's right. No turning back… no… this is definitely… what I want. No need to get cold feet."

That's right. She had been preparing for this since yesterday's evening. Spent hours choosing the right clothing, the right perfume, every action she take yesterday and today was for this one last step.

"Uhh… Saki?"

"Yes?"

"The door's locked."

"Right." Saki ran after Haruto as she put the locket over her neck. "I brought the keycard." And the final seduction began. She pulled out the keycard… from inbetween her breasts right in front of Haruto. He blushed furiously and momentarily averted his gaze. Saki chortled, fully expecting that will happen.

The card slide down, and the door was unlocked. "Come on in."

"A… Are you sure?" Still blushing, Haruto suddenly didn't find going into a girl's room, even if she's his girlfriend, a very good idea.

"Oh yes I'm sure. I still need to cook you a dinner." Saki opened the door and motioned Haruto to come in first. If nothing else, to ensure he won't try to escape when she's not looking. Haruto walked in and Saki closed the door behind him… but not before she threw away her keycard OUTSIDE the door. The beauty of modern day electronic lock: you need keycard to get in AND out.

The two are effectively locked in her room. But her beloved Haruto doesn't need to know that… yet. "Bring the stuff to the kitchen will you?"

"Sure…" Haruto carry the bags to the kitchen… but as he walked through Saki's room, he was surprised to find how… empty, it was. It's definitely larger than the normal dorm, there's furniture, there's tables and chairs, there's painting, there's kitchen, there's bathroom, there's bedroom… the only thing it didn't have… was proof that a living person lived here. Everything in here was something that was come built in, provided by the apartment… but there are none that is in her style… or having her personal touch in it. What's more, everything still smells of soap and cleaning agent. She just recently cleaned the whole room, probably just for this occasion of him coming in. A sign that either this was place really filthy or messy, which means she doesn't care about it until today.

All in all, it's like… this is someone else's room that was vacated and she just made use of it.

He put the bags on the table in the kitchen. "Okay… I just put the stuff in the kitchen… I…" Once again, haruto's heart skipped a beat when he saw Saki had almost finished undressing herself. And for the record… the only undergarment she wears was a single white pantie, and nothing at top. "Saki! WHAT-!?"

"Come on, are you still gonna get flustered every time you see my body?" Saki laughed. "Why don't you go and take a hot bath while I cook something up?"

"Very good idea." Haruto literally ran with his tails between his legs into the bathroom.

Saki smirked. Time for the final blow.

Haruto literally drenched himself in overly hot water just to distract this burgeoning feeling inside his chest. What is with Saki today? For their first date, her stimulation of him is just criminal! She kept stirring up his libido over and over all day… "Wait…" Haruto's mind raced back from zero hour. Everything she does… the clothes she wear… her choice of overly exposed swimwear… And now here he is… inside her room… inside her bath…

"I have to do it." Saki appeared behind Haruto, completely naked.

Haruto just stare at the wall as Saki hugged him tightly from his back, pressing her breasts against him, preventing him from taking another step. He can feel her nipples poking him, smothering his back. Haruto's body was involuntarily pressed against the showers, and the handle was pushed to an off, and the shower stopped.

"Haruto…" Saki whispered sweetly. "Dinner is served."

"S… Saki…" Haruto gasped. Oh god. This was her plan all along. Dinner… with her as the main course. She want him to rape her… to feed on her. And it's working like clockwork. "Saki… get away from me."

"No." Saki's breathings grew heavy, Haruto can actually feel her heart pounding.

Haruto gently turned around and beheld Saki's beautiful flustered face. Her eyes narrowed and her mouth hung open. "S… Sa-mmm!" Before Haruto can say anything, Saki's mouth swallowed his, and her wet salivating tongue pushed into his mouth and start playing with Haruto's unprepared tongue. Her arms sling past his neck and pressed Haruto's head deeper into hers.

The kissing went on and on for minutes. And then she parted. "Haruto… it hurts… right?"

"S… Saki… w… what do you mean…"

"Don't lie to me." And then she did something that made his heart skipped a beat. She erotically showed him her exposed neck. She purred sweetly. "Why do you think I pick that strapless open cloth? Why did I pick so many embarrassingly revealing swimsuits… why did I so wanted you… to make love with me?"

Haruto saw her white skinned neck… and gulped. The beast in his chest is growling again.

"You want to feed. Right?" Saki whispered alluringly. "After that Magius, everyone has been feeding of you… and you haven't fed on anyone else again… have you? You've been eyeing every bit of my exposed skin. But that wasn't because you love what you see… you were hungry. You were thirsting to sank your teeth and drank my blood."

"Sa… Saki… you're not… seriously…"

Saki confirmed by seductively smothering her lips around Haruto's. "I've locked the door. No one can come in… and no one can come out."

Haruto gasped. No. "S… Saki… wait…"

"It's okay." Saki nodded towards a nearby trash can, it was full of empty tin cans. Haruto narrowed his eyes and saw traces of… "They called it Synthetic Rune. It's the thing they used to power the carriers and the Walkits… I've been drinking that stuff since yesterday evening. Now I'm full of Runes. A big tank of Runes right now, just waiting for you to-" She drove the last coffin nail by whispering it erotically word per word. "Suck… it… all… out…!"

"Saki-!" Haruto gasped. Upon hearing those words, Haruto's bestial instinct is one breath away from going completely out of control.

Saki parted from Haruto and stands completely naked in front of him, showing him her body in its entirety, stirring his beast even more. Just like that time in the showers. But this time… it's way worse. This time, Haruto wasn't sure if he can stop himself… as it is he felt like he might even ravage Saki then and there even when there are other people watching.

And Saki had ensured that there won't be any other people watching.

"Saki!" Haruto couldn't control himself anymore and he dashed forward and pushed her to the ground. And the ravaging begin.

"Good…" Saki smiled.

He violently grasped her breast and hungrily bite it, sucking it. His other hand also yanked and tweaked her other vacant breast. He bit her so violently, his teeth actually sank into her supple breast. Blood trickled out as Haruto thirstily drank whatever liquid pouring into his mouth. At the same time, Saki also felt Haruto was sucking more than just her blood. She knows what it was… and she's glad for it.

"Yes… Yee~es!" Saki gasped in pleasure and happiness.

Haruto started by kissing her naked body again and again. He started by kissing beneath her breasts, nibbling and smothering down her womb, teasing and licking her navel until finally he reached her groin. It was already soaking wet. And without further ado, Haruto, maddened by hunger and lust, actually bite into it, thirstily drinking whatever gushed out.

Saki squealed in pain but she kept smiling. "Yes… that's it… AH!" She ignored the pain. Focus on the pleasure. It wasn't hard. The way Haruto kept licking, kissing, drinking everything she leaked out, the pleasure easily overtake everything, including her sanity. Saki's hand caressed Haruto's head, pressing him deeper. "That's it. That's good… Haruto…" She clawed into his hair, pressing him deeper, deep into the very threshold of her pleasure senses.

"KYAAhAHAHAAARGnnhH!" After one last lick before the final bite, Saki gritted her teeth in ecstasy as her back arched into a curve. She can feel her lower area melts and something gushed out like a flood. A flood that Haruto drank hungrily.

Saki's arched back quickly flat down in a limp on the flooding floor. Her smile showed how much pleasure she's feeling. And yet, instead of dying down, she wanted more. Amidst her pants and gasped she peeked at Haruto. It seems he had regained some sense and backed away from her, his back pressed to the wall. His dazed face was smeared with some leftovers from her juice. Couple that with his usual cute baby flustering face, it made him more alluring.

"Haruto…" She purred slurry. Saki crawled on all fours, her body's burning warm like an animal in heat she is now. She reached Haruto's downed being, and she began moving erotically to that specific body part. "S… Saki…"

"It's okay…" Before long, Haruto's manhood sprang out. Saki didn't waste time and happily swallowed it, much to Haruto's shock at the immense pleasure he received. "Holy-" He gritted his teeth in ecstasy while his hands helplessly grasped Saki's dark hair while her head continue to move up and down, her mouth gently caressed its load. One last suck, and Haruto gritted his teeth, gasping, releasing everything uncontrollably until it trickled past the corner of Saki's mouth.

Saki back down while it's still spurting furiously, the liquid trickled out of her open aghast mouth, and her dazed expression were marred with the splattered liquid, making her even more alluring to her dazed mate.

Saki knew this. Licking her smeared lips, she wasted no time and closed his lips with her own. Their juice stained face smothered one another as saliva and drool trickled out of their gurgling lips. But such was the passion entailed, they kissed each other so ferociously and deeply, they almost forgot to breathe.

Almost. Saki parted from Haruto as her hands caressed her lover's face, her eyes gleamed happily as if she's looking at the most beautiful thing on earth.

Haruto could say the same, in regards to Saki's flustered face. "Sa…ki…"

"Haruto… I'm yours." She tucked her forehead to his. "My body… my soul… they belong to you and you alone. From the very last strand of my hair to the very tip of my toes. All of it. Yours." She reaffirmed this by planting another deep kiss. "When you said you're willing to spend the rest of your life with me… I made that silent vow then and there."

Saki began to move her waist up, positioning her opening right above Haruto's member. Saki teased it several times and then she slammed her waist down to let it pierce her in its entirety. She gritted her teeth in mad pleasure. Haruto gasped when he felt the tightening down below.

"Saki…" Haruto gasped… the red scars began to appear, just as Haruto's eyes turned red again, but he's still dazed and somewhat confused. Confused in trying to comprehend this pleasure. "Haruto…" Likewise, the glowing green web markings appeared on Saki's left neck just as her eyes turned green.

Saki's legs sling forward and tighten behind his waist, as she grabbed his face and brought hers to his again. Saliva trickled from their conjoined lips as they moan and grunts. Her waist began to move up and down like there's no tomorrow. Saki's moaning filled the room, just as Haruto's sighs turned to moans that grew louder and louder as well as the pleasure began to mount again. Problem is… that beast is… growling.

"Take it." Saki moved her left neck to Haruto's mouth as she struggling to catch her breath. "I will give you everything. So please… take it. Take it all."

One last shook from Saki's waist, Saki shrieked as she climaxed, just as Haruto also screamed before he lost his mind completely. He roared, overtaken by the curse, he pushed Saki down and as he pinned her arms, his teeth sank into her neck as his waist pounded in and out of hers again furiously.

"Devour me!" Saki shrieked.

Haruto grunted as his mouth remained gnashed on Saki's neck while his waist moved in and out; Saki screamed and squealed in pleasure as she came again and again. Haruto kept pounding in and out of her, doesn't seem to care the liquid pouring out of his partner's slit. Saki laughed and screamed as pain and pleasure coursing throughout her body. Haruto roared and lifted her up, she squealed when her own weight drove Haruto even deeper into her womb.

"Defile me!" She squealed.

Saki was slammed to the bathroom doors, hard, forcibly opening it as Haruto pounded her from behind, hard. Saki squealed happily as Haruto grasped her fingers tight, pining her down as he fell upon her like beast… and she welcomed his violation of her like a female beast in mating season. Haruto grabbed both of her arms and pulled her violently until her back arched, locking her in place as he pounded her brains out from the back. Another violent pound and Saki climaxed uncontrollably, coupled with a hysterical scream. It was so violent of a reaction, her hair tie snapped, and her pony tail unraveled into her usual disheveled long straight hair.

"Violate every inch of me…" She moaned.

Said long black hair was disheveled even further as Haruto turned her around and began pounding into her as he lifted one of her legs upward. Her juice covered breasts bounced left and right with each violent motion, her whole body was full of bite marks and blood smears. Haruto's body full of claw marks, particularly at his back. She moaned and cried as her tearful eyes rolled upwards, they've climaxed so many times; their whole body was smeared in all sorts of liquid from both sides. And when the two came again, there doesn't seem to be any part of their body that wasn't smeared by each other's fluids, be they tears, cum, snot, saliva, and other stuff. Saki's juice covered body was raised to a limp upright position on top of Haruto, and her waist happily moved up and down the rod inside her.

"Break… me…"

They somehow reached the living room… and they're still at it. Haruto is pounding at her from behind, and Saki screamed happily as her fingernails ripped the bed sheets and the bed beneath it in another violent and satisfying climax. Haruto's arm held on to the bed's frame so tight that he crushed it beneath his grip when he unloaded all of it into Saki. Finally, their fingers clasped tightly, their mouths locked with one another's, her breasts and his pressed against each other, their whole naked bodies were practically glued by all sorts of liquid that came out, and both of their waists continue to moved furiously, even as more of the bodily fluid were being poured in…

"Filthy… ah! my… Yes! very… AH! soul…" she murmured in between moans…

The curse marks on their faces and their glowing eyes had synchronized into the gold color some time ago. They both climaxed furiously until their fluid burst out of the seams of their interconnected organs and splattered on their already sticky body, and still they keep doing it. They've lost their mind to the interconnected pleasure that binds them through the runes. They're in mating frenzy, copulating sensually and bestially in a swirling pool of golden runes leaking out and seeping in through every crevice of their sweating and conjoined body. A dazed Saki's waist kept swaying up and down atop Haruto's equally dazed self, their fingers locking with one another as their tongues wrestle with each other. Even the runes seem wanted to ensure this bond lasts for eternity as strands of runes tied their fingers together, wrapping around their swaying waist as to tie them even closer. Making them more one than they already are.

Saki went up and down furiously, her eyes rolled upwards, her locket going up and down her bouncing breasts, and her mind was lost and perverted to love and lust as her cum dripping tongue stick out of her drooling and grinning open mouth. "Oh… Haruto… I… Love you-! I love you! I LOVE YOO~OUU!" And she squealed one final time.

One last gasp from Haruto, one last hysterical scream of pleasure from Saki before the two fainted in one final explosive climax, the juice is still flooding out from their still connected bodies as they lay on top of each other.

**0000000**

When Saki woke up, her whole body was sticky allover. She gently get up, winced a bit as she had to pull it out of her. They slept while still being connected. She found it… strangely sensual. Saki chuckled and gave Haruto a kiss in the lips. It was just a quick peck, but it was enough to wake him up.

"S… Saki…" Haruto's eyes quickly adjusted to the morning sunlight, and when he saw a naked Saki… and his naked self… he understood. "We… we…"

"We did it. Again. And it's amazing." Saki smiled and planted a deep kiss at Haruto.

Haruto quickly went full awake, though he still feels a bit… awkward. He's not tired anymore in that his head seems to be fully awake and operational, but the rest of his body still need time to catch up. He looked at the surroundings and gasped. Tables overturned… the wallpapers had been torn viciously, some of them were smashed actually… and they're not sleeping on a bed, they're sleeping on a couch. The bed has been… viciously ripped in half. "Saki… did we have sex… or did a typhoon just came in and tear everything apart?"

"Well a typhoon did come in." Saki chuckled and kiss Haruo's neck several times. "A typhoon called an immortal couple madly in love with each other." She hugged Haruto tightly. "Besides, you think this is bad? You should see the other rooms. Tee-hee!"

Haruto blinked… and then he felt… faint. Saki hugged him again. "Rest, love. I'm gonna take a shower. A long shower." She got up and felt her stomach felt strangely full… Saki paid it no mind at first. The amount Haruto poured in into her last night… it was intoxicatingly incredible. As she headed towards the bathroom, she quickly added. "I'll be skinny dip, and I will be waiting for you to join me." Saki winked seductively.

Haruto blushed, but then, he still having a hard time waking up, hence preventing him from getting up and join the fun right away. Hence he resolve to simply nodded weakly.

Saki smiled sultrily before disappearing from Haruto's sight when she turned around the corner into the bathroom. Haruto then heard the distant sound of the shower.

And then, as the rest of his limbs are activating, he felt something else. He felt refreshed and… full of power. There's new fresh strength coursing through every fiber of his being. The beast that had been clawing inside his chest was no more. It didn't disappear. It simply fell into deep content sleep, having had its fill till its stomach burst. Waiting for the time when it'll wake up all hungry and starving, craving to feast again. But, Haruto can positively say, that will not happen again in a long while.

All this, thanks to Saki. She sacrificed everything for him. Her humanity, her dreams, and now her body, and, quite possibly, her soul. How can Haruto ever possibly repay her?

THUD!

That sound coming from the bathroom made Haruto's heart skipped a beat. "Saki?"

She didn't answer.

"Saki? Saki!?"

She still won't answer.

And now Haruto's initial shock turned to worry. "Saki!? Saki answer me! What happened?" And when she didn't answer, that worry turned into fear and panic. Willing his body to recover faster, Haruto finally get back on his feet within moments and he quickly rushed into the bathroom.

And there he found Saki…

…lying on the bathroom floor unconscious.

"SAKI!" 

**00000000000000**

Some time later…

That morning, the two pilot teams meet for the first time in the hangar.

Team A, the main pilots: Inuzuka Aina, Yamada Raizo, Yusuke Otamaya, and three other currently absent or otherwise preoccupied pilots: Tokishima Haruto, Rukino Saki, and Renbokuji Akira.

Team B, the so called backup pilots: Hinomoto Jin, Nao Ota, Satomi Renbokuji, Ninomiya Takahi, her two friends; Lily and Eri, Satomi's deputy Iori, and a few other random students L-Elf had picked up, 30 people in all, including the two people who gave Inuzuka Aina a weird terrified look.

And just now, the JIOR hangar crew had just delivered some extra units of Kagerous, adding the number of combat ready unit to 10 units.

Satomi started. "Well then, let's do our best today of trying not to get our asses kicked again. Yes?"

Jin snorted sarcastically.

Satomi looked disapprovingly at Jin. "And would it kill to you follow my instructions this time?"

"Following orders is not exactly my style."

"Guys, let's stop fighting will you?" Yusuke smiled nervously. "Let's do some warm up. We're here too early anyway."

And then, as the two teams made their way into the hangar, they found someone is already waiting for them, all dressed up in pilot suit, ready to face the day.

At first they thought it was L-Elf. But as they get a better observation, everyone was surprised to find that it was a grim faced Haruto.

"Tokishima-kun." Satomi started. "We-"

"Pick." Haruto immediately cut him off.

"Excuse me?"

"Pick… 9 of your best pilots… and suit up. Launch in 10." Haruto coldly stated in a chilling cold tone not dissimilar with L-Elf's.

"9 of our best pilots?" Satomi still don't understand what exactly Haruto wanted to do. "Tokishima… I… I don't understand? 9 of our best?"

"From both teams. 9 people." Haruto motioned at the Kagerous behind them. "I counted 10 Kagerous. I'll pilot one. The 9 will get the rest."

"To do what… exactly?"

Haruto's flat face turned into a frown of irritation. "All 9 of you are you going to fight me right now. Same rule as before. 10 lap, one shot, 10 shot to win. But you all will only need to shoot me 5 times. The winner gets to control the Valvrave."

Everyone jaw dropped. Haruto scored top, technically speaking, he's the best pilot out of them all. But… he can't be that good.

Jin on the other hand, saw something in the way Haruto looked at all of them. There's something in there. A fire of determination that he didn't have before.

Takahi suddenly mentioned. "Where's… Rukino? Is she not with you?"

Takahi's comment just now made that fire in his eyes became even more obvious. Jin quickly surmised whatever happened to Tokishima, his girlfriend is involved somehow. Jin smirked. "Alright. I'll do it. But cut it out with 5 shots. I wanna fight you fair and square, Tokishima!"

Haruto actually chortled. "I'm sorry for not being clear. You're not going to fight me one on one. Oh no. All 9 of you will come at me all at once." Haruto smirked. "That and me giving you only 5 shots is MY way of being fair and square. Because seriously? I doubt any of you could even land a shot at me."

That was Haruto's final word before he quickly entered his Kagerou and flew off.

That comment made 9 of the existing best pilots made ready for action within moments: Jin, Aina, Takahi, Satomi, Yusuke, Nao, Raizo, Lilly, and Eri. Soon, 9 Kagerous flew out of the module hangar.

15 minutes later, L-Elf arrived to the now empty hangar and find he's missing at least 10 students and 10 Kagerous. All the best 10, in fact. "Where are the others?"

That question went unanswered by everyone present. Their eyes were transfixed at the scene playing out by the monitor. Too distracted to even notice his presence.

"Excuse me? Where are 10 of our best pilots?" L-Elf repeated. And still it went unanswered. L-Elf finally looked at the monitor, curious as to what exactly is distracting them.

He saw the asteroid field… and judging by the paint blots on some of them and the number of disabled Kagerou with at least 10 paint blots on them, a fierce battle is going on at the present. The pilots were entranced by the battle proceeding before them. Judging by the way their eyes widened in awe, it must've been quite an eye opening event.

One Kagerou is still functional, which L-Elf recognized as Ninomiya Takahi's unit. She had 9 blots, and she's taking protection behind an asteroid. It's quite a well protected spot… until a Kagerou unit which L-Elf quickly recognized as Haruto's unit zoomed down right above her, and he fired at her head, knocking her down. As the Kagerou went offline due to its pilot being overwhelmed by gas, another unit, which is identified as Jin's custom unit, flew past the downed Kagerous all around him and went straight at Haruto's, opening fire at him. Haruto flew away, easily dodging his shot, and he disappeared from the screen.

It was then at this point, L-Elf noted how Jin's unit had 6 paint blots at it… and Haruto's unit was unblemished and unmarred by an even single paint blot… a stark contrast with the other units. His quick thinking mind deduced what is happening. "Tokishima Haruto… challenged all 9 top pilots all at once… yes?" L-Elf asked to all the pilots within earshot.

One of the awed pilots nodded without averting his eyes from the screen. Some of them were awed, some were terrified. One such example of the latter was Iori Kitagawa, looking completely frightened at what she's seeing, and she commented nervously under her breath. "The guy fights like a demon…" Some of the other entranced students nodded in a silent agreement.

Suddenly, everyone gasped when Jin's Kagerou unit suddenly were slammed violently against an asteroid right in front of the screen, with Haruto's unit right on top of it. The Kagerou had inexplicably lost one of its arms, the number of paint blots on its body had increased to 7, and Haruto had yet to earn a single mark on his spotless unit. Haruto's Kagerou grabbed Jin's unit by the neck and lifted it up.

Inside his unit, Jin smirked like crazy. He was beaten. So thoroughly and completely that he has no excuse. He gave it all and he was beaten. Nothing is more satisfying than this. 'That's right! This is how it's supposed to be!' "Finish it, Tokishima!"

Haruto didn't need any more coercing; he aimed the gun and fired 3 times at the spot where Jin's cockpit would be, point blank. And then he let go the now limp unit as the pilot inside was being overwhelmed by gas.

L-Elf looked on. A flawless victory. 9 units ganging up on him, and none were able to hurt him. In his assessment that's a direct straight A+ on all skill related parameters. But Haruto's problem is not his skill…

Soon, Haruto's Kagerou landed with the other 9 units in tow. As he floated out of the cockpit, he saw the other pilots looked more frightened rather than awed. The only one who dared to approach him was L-Elf.

And the first thing he said about it is: "Excessive."

"…excuse me?" 

"That was a tad excessive, Tokishima Haruto. While it definitely earned you back the right to your original unit… why… 9 pilots?" L-Elf noted and then he quickly added. "Unless you want something more than just the return of your Valvrave?"

Haruto nodded. "I'll do whatever you say in your strategies. You say 'jump', I'll say 'how high'. So long as you commit to our agreement: without any sacrifice. And one more thing-"

"?"

"Whatever initial plan or schemes you had in mind… alter them. Alter them so as to keep Rukino Saki out of it."

"Rukino Saki?" L-Elf looked at Haruto's determined eyes. "Hmm… sure. I can easily do so. But… even if you can make up her absence with your sheer skill, 04 will still need a pilot. If not her, then someone else from the backup team, I suppose?"

"Yes." Haruto nodded. "She recommended… and I still can't believe it… Ninomiya-senpai to replace her."

"She recommended…?" L-Elf blinked in surprise. "Wait, she agrees to this?" He knew her as the most stubborn of all pilots, with her determination to pilot at AAA+. It's hard to imagine someone like that would give up her rights like that.

"She doesn't have a choice." Haruto added. "Not on this matter."

L-Elf nodded and he made the suitable changes on the pilot lineup. And then he chuckled and smirked at Haruto. "This is so unlike you… Tokishima Haruto. So decisive. It is a welcome change… but… what happened?"

Haruto looked at L-Elf. And for a moment, he was reminded of what he had learned in that trip to the hospital, that little talk with Nanami-sensei about the little device she used to test Saki's urine.

**0000000**

In the hospital, a bed ridden Saki had just finished explaining things to a wide eyed Shoko and Pino as she gently caressed her womb.

**0000000**

Haruto also gave him the answer.

"The future." Haruto, now officially the second best pilot in that module (right after L-Elf), replied. "The Future happened, L-Elf."

And that's how L-Elf begins this day: by changing Tokishima Haruto's determination ranking from D- to AAA+, which automatically increased all his skill parameters from A+ to AA+.

**00000000000000**

Meanwhile, out in space, a Dorsssian Walkit class cruiser, half beaten to wreckage, is floating, drifting towards the Module…

A signal was being sent repeatedly…

"_Dorssia… fallen… help…"_

**00000000000000**

**00000000000000**

**00000000000000**


End file.
